Teaparty
by OffensivePhilosphy
Summary: The continuation of my story, Velvet Seduction and VampireMassacre's story, Alex in Wonderland. Jericko Jabberwocky is banished from his Wonderland and forced to live in another. As the two country's come together, Jericko will discover feelings he never thought he had before, all thanks to the efforts of one March Hare. Contains a lot of cussing, sex, homosexuality, and love!
1. The South

**A/N: This story is a combined continuation of my story, Velvet Seduction, and VampireMassacre's story Alex in Wonderland. So if you haven't read Alex in Wonderland or Velvet Seduction, please do so because otherwise you won't understand this story. Also, VampireMassacre will be uploading the first chapter of this story, but anything after the first chapter will be uploaded on this account.**

**Thank you and happy reading!**

Teaparty Chapter 1: The South

Cecil Cheshire had chosen to transport the Jabberwocky to Heart Castle, having been warned that the dragon was very dangerous and as rash as they came. But when he'd actually met said Jabberwocky, he didn't see a dangerous, soulless dragon human. What'd he seen was a pissed off dragon man who above all was deeply hurt. The pain in Jay's eyes had been evident the second the Cheshire had lays eyes upon him. Of course it was deeply buried and well hidden behind layer after layer of anger and hatred, but it was there, and that was enough for Ches to feel sorry for the dragon.

He'd transported Jay to the Castle a few moments after he'd met him, knowing it was best to move him while he was confused. All the Wonderland nobles where waiting for them.

Ches stepped away from Jay's side and twirled to the side of the Hatter's; his lover. The Hatter had embraced him, kissed him, and walked towards the Jabberwocky. At least, he tried to walk towards the Jabberwocky.

"Don't come any closer! I don't know where the fuck I am and I'm pissed off! I don't feel like being approached by some tall bastard in a top hat! I've had enough problems with people in top hats," Jay snarled.

The Hatter wisely took a step back. Now, the Hatter could have easily dealt with the Jabberwocky, but if there's one thing he knew, it was to give wild animals their space.

Caterpillar, though wiser than the Hatter, was sore all over and in no mood for games. He took a few very deliberate steps towards Jay, whom snarled at him.

"Hush, child, I'm in no mood for this, so I'll explain quickly. You're in another Wonderland, different from your own. As we all know, you've been banished from yours. But where exactly did you expect to be sent? Topside? No. So you were sent here. My name is Cruel Caterpillar, and I am the Caterpillar of this world. The tall man you just snarled at is our Mad Hatter (though he isn't really mad), and the cat eared Kitten," protests of "Not a kitten!" were vaguely heard in the background, "is our Cheshire Cat, the Hatter's lover. I warn you not to hurt the Cheshire, because I am very happy to inform you the Hatter is the most powerful man in this Wonderland, and he could easily kill you. So be on your best behavior."

Caterpillar stepped back into his place in the row, steadily gazing into Jay's eyes. He did not fear this Jabberwocky.

Jay growled low under his breath, bearing his teeth and showing off a pair of impressive fangs. "Do I look like I give a flying shit? I didn't ask to be fucking sent anywhere! And I am sure as hell not a child, and I am fucking going to rip all the pretty hair right out of his damn head if he comes anywhere near me," he hissed.

His eyes scanned the room in a calculating way, taking in the number of people and gauging their power levels. They all could have easily been seen in his Wonderland, though, he noted, the green haired bunny thing was a stretch. Abnormally colored hair was possible, but not common in his Wonderland. The building, the architecture of it, was most definitely not Wonderlandian…not his Wonderlandian, anyway.

He gauged that the green haired thing and the cat would be easiest. Except maybe whatever was inside a teapot, which smelled like a small mammal but he wasn't sure. Mouse maybe. Then there was the fact that the freaky Hatter guy would be on his ass for the Cat.

So his black, hateful gaze settled on the green head. Judging by the fact his ears where not white, he was probably the Hare. His lips turned up into an emotionless smirk, and then his eyes turned back to the tall Caterpillar. "Fine, pasty. I'll play along. What the fuck do you plan to do with me?"

The Caterpillar shrugged. "That's up to the others," he answered. The Hatta stepped forward.

The Hatta was the sister of the Hatter and nearly as tall. Standing at six feet and five inches, her cherry red hair and equally red eyes tended to make people attend to what she said.

"Alright, Jericko Jabberwocky," she said, flipping through a thick file folder with the emblem of Jay's wonderland on it, "according to your file, you're a destructive five mile long dragon who can breathe both ice and fire. But it also says you're currently locked in your human form. And in your human form, you're a foul tempered, rude, and downright cruel person. And it also says you're a sex addict."

She then turned to the other nobles and said, "I say we make him live with the March." The green haired Hare's eyes turned to the size of tea saucers and his ears began twitching rapidly. "W-what?!" he said in disbelief. But no one heard him.

"I think that's a good idea!" purred Ches, and the White Rabbit nodded. The Hatter was not so quick to agree. "Now, sister, let's not jump to decisions. Maybe we could give him his own house."

Hatta shook her head. "Jericko needs to have someone look after him, so why not another sex addict? They'll understand each other better," she said with an innocent smile. In all honestly she didn't really care if the March Hare and Jay would understand each other. She currently held quite a strong grudge against the Hare and she knew making the Jabberwocky live with him would make him suffer a great deal.

The Caterpillar was staying completely out of this, it seemed, which left the Hatter outvoted. He sighed, knowing he had lost.

"Do I get a say about this?! Does Jericko get a say about this?!" March yelled, to get attention.

Hatta shook her head. "Nope. Not really. Well, that just about settles this meeting. Oh wait!" she said, and waved her hand. A cherry red rune formed in the air, split in half, and wrapped itself around Jay's wrists. "To keep you in check, Jabberwocky. Should you try to break anything, living or non-living, you'll get a very painful shock. Those will stay on until we can trust you."

Jay, who had managed to stay silent, growled fiercely. "Fuck you! Take these goddamned things off me!" he snarled.

Hatta smiled and said, "No. Now go on home, you two. Methinks this meeting is over~!"

March, realizing he wasn't going to win, became furious. "Fuck all of you!" he yelled, and stormed out.

Hatta turned to Jay. "You should probably follow him if you'd like dinner and a bed to sleep on, tonight," she said, then she gathered the Tweedle Twins, and left.

Hatter sighed again, gave Jay a sympathetic look and left, linking arms with Ches.

The Caterpillar seemed to vanish, and the White Rabbit left to wherever else in the castle he was needed.

Jay's eyes widened in disbelief, especially at the speed everyone was leaving. "What, no! Get back here you fuckers! You can't just…!" he shouted, but didn't even finish his sentence. Everyone was gone.

Letting out a growl, he looked down at his wrists in disgust. Great, more electricity. Now, not only was he going to get shocked if he changed, he would also get shocked if he BROKE anything. The fuck. Now he couldn't even take out his anger.

In absolute rage, he threw back his head and let out a hate filled draconic roar that shook the building he was in and made leaves fall from the trees outside. However, no matter how much hate was in that roar, other animals could hear the note of despair that came along with it. What had Alex done to him?! Why here?! Why more bondage?!

"I'll be happy my ass," he hissed under his breath. "And I'll be damned if I go after the damn fucking rabbit wanna-be!"

Nevertheless, he wouldn't accomplish anything by standing there. So, he followed March's scent through the city. People avoided him, and everywhere he went the sounds of life paused, waiting for him to pass before moving again. There were no people, no anything within fifty feet of him in either direction.

Finding March's home, he didn't even knock before he went inside. And sniffed around for the green haired Hare, not caring whether or not the little shit was okay with him entering or not.

Said Hare could be found down the hall in a spare bedroom, fluffing pillows and spreading out fresh sheets and going through all the motions of making a bed. But the look on his face told Jay his mind was elsewhere.

It wasn't until after the bed was made, did March notice Jay was standing in the doorway. He looked at him for a long moment before saying, "Well, since it seems you're going to be my guest/housemate for however fucking long, this is your room. There's a bathroom across the hall, you have a dresser you can put your clothes in and a bedside table. My bedrooms upstairs, third door on the right should you need anything in the middle of the night."

Jay looked at him like he was an idiot. "I don't have any clothes besides the ones I'm wearing," he said, surprisingly calm. He'd been able to blow off a little steam on his walk here.

March's eyes got wide for the second time that evening. "Well fuck me. I guess tomorrow we're going shopping. I suppose you don't have a toothbrush? Oh, whatever. You obviously weren't sent over with anything. We're going to have to get a lot of shit tomorrow." He rubbed his face, already looking tired despite the fact it wasn't even all that late in the evening.

"Well, I'm not going to worry about that now. You hungry? 'Cuz I'm fucking starved. I'm going to go make some food," he said, and walked past Jay towards the kitchen.

Jay stared at the room after March just walked right past him. It was strange not to be treated like he was a time bomb. Usually no one would dare talk to him like he was a normal person….because, well, he wasn't.

He looked at the rather plain looking room. "….This is boring as fuck," he mumbled to himself, eyeing what was, in his opinion, a tiny assed bed. He'd have to fix that, and the boring room. Maybe just make himself a new bed, but that would take a lot of wood.

After assessing that room, he shrugged and sighed. He could've been dumped worse places, he supposed, but he didn't like any of this. Leaving the boring room, he followed March's smell, as well as the smell of cooking food, to the kitchen. The rest of the house didn't make much of an impression him either. Then again, he had always lived in a castle, and been surrounded with ornate things, so any normal dwelling would be small and boring to him.

He plunked himself down at the kitchen table and watched March move around, not saying a word. He didn't know if he liked his new…. "roommate." He seemed like a bitch. Even the other…whatever the hell those people were, didn't like him. Being MADE of negative emotions, he could usually feel them when they were being dished out.

"So…what'd you do to make all of your buddies so damned angry at you, hm?" he questioned, blatantly staring at March's ass. It was a nice ass.

March stiffened for a moment before resuming his cooking. He was making spaghetti because it was easy and he could add extra meat, assuming that Jay mostly ate meat.

"I made a bet with the Cheshire that he couldn't seduce the Hatter some months back. They ended up falling in love, and I started a rift between them so the Hatter would hate Ches and Ches would have no fucking clue as to what to do. It worked for awhile. But then somehow Ches made up with Hatter and I was found out. Got my shoulder fractured in the process." And as if to prove his point, he rubbed said shoulder. Jay had noticed how he was favoring that arm while cooking. It must still hurt him.

"So what'd you do make all your people so damned angry at you?" March asked.

Jay chuckled darkly, flashing a predatory grin, trying to ignore March's shoulder problems.

"Damn, you're a real bitch. All I caused were seven major wars and killed millions of people," he said, as if he were talking about a leisurely stroll in the park. He didn't feel any remorse for killing those people, nor did he care that all of them had been innocent.

He shrugged. "Oh, and I'm the living embodiment of all of the people of Wonderland's negative emotions. Hate, evil, jealousy, envy, all that good shit. Apparently, an evil five mile long dragon is a liability to the continent."

'Not that I chose to be,' he added silently to himself.

The smell of meat was distracting him though. He hadn't eaten anything before he left, or for a few weeks, actually, and it was bringing his dragon sized appetite back to be around the aroma of cooking meat.

March shrugged. He'd heard that Jay was some seriously bad and dangerous brand of being, but he didn't really care. None of Jay's past was his problem.

"Bitch is one of the nicer things I've been called," March said, mixing the sauce and pasta. Once that was done, he pulled out two plates and dumped most of the spaghetti on one of them and barely a spoonful on another. He set the fuller plate in front of Jay and handed him a fork. "Try not to make a mess. I'll get you a glass of water," he said. He poured them both a glass and sat down to eat. He took all of two bites before leaning back and pushing his plate away as he watched Jay scarf down his food.

"I'm supposing it's been awhile since you ate anything? I know you've been kept in a cell for the past few weeks. Or do you usually eat a lot of food?" he asked, watching the pile of pasta on Jay's plate become rapidly smaller. He had a feeling he'd be cooking more in a few minutes.

Jay looked up from his nearly clean plate, tongue darting out to lick sauce from his lips. "I haven't eaten anything since the day I was thrown into that shithole," he answered, then went back to slurping up his noodles.

He sat back once he was done and downed his glass of water.

"Well, bitch or not, you aren't damn bad at cooking. Then again, it might just barely be edible and I'm just hungry as hell," he snickered, tilting his chair back on its back legs and setting his feet on the table.

He put his arms behind his head and sighed. "So, the fuck is there to do around here? I've been cooped up in a castle for about 2,000 years on top of the dungeon shit, and I was thinking I would get to see how Wonderland changed. Guess not, but hell, never seen yours before. I would suggest I find someone to screw, but I'd end up maiming them, and that flaming bitch from that meeting's stupid runes would fry my ass."

March shrugged. "If you're looking for sex, there's a park set aside for public sex. I'm sure you could go there, sit on a bench, and immediately have some pickings come up to you. You might be risking some diseases, though," he suggested. He lifted Jay's feet off the table and let them fall to the floor. "I have a job I have to do every day, but it's basically just walking around being a law enforcer, so you could come with me if you wanted, or wander around. The Tulgey Woods are a nice place to go if you like open space."

He stood and started cleaning off Jay's plate. "I don't really know. Find a hobby or something. You can have the rest of my food if you want. I'm full. And why'd you call Hatta a 'flaming bitch'?" he asked. Hatta wasn't actually a bad person, he knew. Of course she was pretty pissed at March, but eventually everything would blow over and she'd be nice to him again. And bake him cookies. Goddamn she baked good cookies.

"You still hungry?" he asked Jay.

"Public sex?" Jay repeated, as if the information was just now reaching him, or he had been focusing on that part of the conversation the whole time March was talking.

He grinned lecherously and shook his head. "Sounds fun, but getting the sex wasn't a problem. I'm not exactly a gentle lover, which brings me to be calling your 'Hatta' a flaming bitch."

Holding up his wrists he showed off the runes there. "She put these on me. I can't break anything, living or non-living, or I get shocked. And THIS," he emphasized, pointing to his armlet, Draconis Nocturne, "…has shocked me more than enough for the rest of my immortal life."

"I've only had one lover come out of fucking me and not be broken in some way. One. And if they live, it surprises me. So yeah, Hatta's a flaming bitch in my book. All of you are, until I'm free. You all act like I want to be here and get fucked over for a second time in my life."

Rolling his eyes, he let out a frustrated breath and stretched. "Where's your Jabberwocky?"

March rolled his eyes and planted his hand on his hip. "Well for starters, you should appreciate the chance we're giving you here. You have free range to do whatever you want as long has it doesn't involve killing or maiming, and should you prove that you can be trusted and calm down, you'll be given a house of your own and citizenship to this Wonderland. You're getting a clean slate. No one in this country knows you're an evil dragon and they won't ever know if you're careful. So stop being an angry child and grow the fuck up. We haven't wronged you. We're trying to give you a second chance." He went back to cleaning the dishes.

"As for our Jabberwocky, it was killed some two thousand years ago by our Hatter. Its bones are curled around the clearing that Hatta's house is in. You can go see them sometime. I'm sure she wouldn't mind," he answered.

Jay suddenly stood, towering over March and glaring down at him. "I didn't ask for your damned second chance," he hissed.

He put a sharp claw under March's chin, lifting the Hare's face to look up at his. "Look at me. I'm a fucking dragon stuck in this horrible body. I don't want to be human. I don't fucking want a second chance! I'd rather die than be stuck like this, but all of the shit I'm made of would just flood whatever world I die in!"

His eyes changed, going gold and black and his fangs lengthened. "I could just kill you and leave," he purred, a sly smile curling on his lips.

March smiled sweetly back at him. "If you killed me, I'm sure those pretty red wrist bands of yours would knock you out. As for bad emotions, that's nothing new. The people of this world probably have enough negative emotions to make a dragon twice as bad as you. You wouldn't be anything special," he said cutely. He lifted his hand and traced Jay's jaw line.

"Why are you so angry? And don't give me that 'made of bad souls and negative emotions' bullshit. Why are you so angry?" March asked. He idly noticed how close he and Jay were. Mere centimeters apart.

Jay's eyes narrowed, and he was about to correct March, saying that no one could be nearly as bad as him, but he stopped. He realized that he had gotten soft, more human, and it sickened him. As much as one thousand years ago, he would've killed March without hesitation, damn the consequences. He couldn't now though.

The other's hand on his face surprised him, and broke him from his thoughts.

Opening his mouth to argue, he once again found himself not able to say what he had been thinking. "I would say it's because of those souls and emotions. But you're right, it isn't all of that, I suppose," he muttered, looking away stubbornly.

"I was made to be destroyed. It's in your damn file, isn't it? How would you feel if the moment you were created, your were bound and your creators attempted to slaughter you?" he growled.

Was he bitter? You bet your ass.

"I'd feel angry and hateful. Just like you. But your file also says you're over seven thousand years old. My father beat my mother right before my eyes when I was three years old. And I was angry. I hated him so much, but after a time I wasn't as angry and I learned to forgive him. I'd never want to see his face again, and luckily he's dead, but I forgave him. And it took a lot less time than seven thousand years." March said softly. His voice wasn't accusing or pitying, it was gentle and kind.

He placed his other hand on Jay's face and gently turned the dragon man's head to face him. And then he just smiled at him.

Jay blinked down at him, staring at that smile. For some reason, he didn't want to shoot down March's idea that he had the ability to overcome things like that.

"There must be something you're not understanding," he muttered, and fought the urge to nuzzle into March's hand.

His voice was cold when he spoke next. "Being made of absolutely nothing but negative emotions, I lack the ability to forgive. I have no mercy, no forgiveness. I can't love, I can't be patient! I've tried to feel! I feel nothing!"

"I don't believe that in the slightest. I think you're fooling yourself. You obviously can feel anger, and that's something. I think you've never had the opportunity to feel good emotions. And honestly all of us want you to feel positive emotions; you just have to give us a chance. Give me a chance." March said, but he was more asking Jay to give him that chance.

Jay looked off-set for a moment. He had meant he didn't feel anything good, and had acknowledged his anger and bitterness many times before. He felt a small twinge in his chest though, of something he didn't understand, but he knew it was because March was actually trying to understand him.

Like Alex…but in a completely different way, of course.

March pulled his hands away and they fell to his sides. "I'm going to go get a shower and then I'm going to bed. You should shower, too. Use the one down here. I'll bring you some clothes that you can sleep in and some that you can wear tomorrow until we get you a wardrobe put together. There's a new toothbrush and toothpaste, so brush your teeth. No buts. I won't have someone with terrible breathe living with me." He said, and stepped back and walked out. Then he went up the stairs and couldn't be seen anymore.

But even though he couldn't be seen, Jay could hear his footsteps, and smell his scent left behind. He stared after him for a few heartbeats, a warmth beginning to seep through his veins until it pooled low in his abdomen.

His smile was a perfect, but for the fangs, and wicked as any he had ever given his victims. He was horny…and that redhead….Hatta…? Yes Hatta…had mentioned something about the Hare being a sex addict. Maybe he could play on that, and make his stay more entertaining for them both.

He strode up the stairs, through house and after March. Standing outside the bathroom door, once he was there, he breathed deep one more time, inhaling the scents of the house and March, and the water now running. He grasped the doorknob and turned, half expecting to have to burst the door off of its hinges.

However, surprisingly, it was unlocked. With a silence that would've made a Cheshire proud, he entered the bathroom and came up behind the half dressed Hare. "Perhaps," he purred, "…we should save water. I wouldn't mind showering with you."

March smiles slightly and undid his hair, the green locks falling past his shoulder. "I like that idea," he purred, and turned around to face Jay. He reached down and unbuttoned the Jabberwocky's black pants, smiling coyly up at him the whole time.

The only clothing March was wearing were soft green pants, and he easily shifted his hips slightly and had them falling around his ankles to leave himself completely naked. "Tell me, Jabberwocky, what do you think?" he asked coyly.

He slipped his black vest off, dropping it to the floor uncaringly and having his gaze completely centered on March the whole time. The burning stare scanned the length of March's body before zeroing in on the Hare's already hard member.

The dragon smirked at the light touch of color that bloomed on March's cheeks. "Been a while since you've had a nice, hard dick in that ass, hm?" he teased, slipping his own shirt over his head and revealing the hard, toned muscle underneath. There wasn't a scar in sight, despite how many battles he had been in.

March's body, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as sharp and carved. It was smooth muscle and curves, much softer to the touch than Jay's. Which he found out as he pulled March close and immediately groped his ass.

The smaller man blushed and let out a cooing moan, laying his hands on Jay's chest for support. The noirette above him chuckled and shook his head, moving to grasp March's hands and put them directly on his crotch.

"Ah-ah. You were getting these off, weren't you?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow and snapping his teeth together wickedly.

Once March's hands were in their proper place, in his opinion, he grasped March's chin between a thumb and forefinger, tilting his head up and claiming his lips in a rough, biting kiss. March whimpered at first under the rough ministrations, but continued his apparent job of unbuttoning Jay's pants and sliding them down off of his body.

Jay's cock wasn't in any better of a condition than the Hare's. It was hard and prominent, jutting forward and begging for attention. He wasn't shy about it either, and growled as his free hand guided March's hand to stroke his tip.

March smiled softly and blushed slightly, running his fingertips over Jay's length. The Jabberwocky was impressive, but it wasn't anything March couldn't handle. He pulled his hands away and pressed up against Jericko, and slowly rotated his hips. He got a pleased growl in return.

He ground a little harder, until he was blushing and moaning quietly. The dragon human's hands never let go of his ass. Not that he minded.

"Come on…" March whispered softly, and took Jay's wrist to lead him to the running shower that was at the perfect temperature. He climbed inside and pulled Jay in with him.

Jericko didn't hesitate to flip him around and press March into the wall, pinning his arms above his head and grinding into his ass provocatively. It seemed March was going to have to make Jay slow down, because if Jay was this eager, and with his track record…let's just say March didn't fancy being torn in places that really shouldn't be torn.

"Slooow down there, Nellie. I haven't even been prepared, and I haven't had anything inside me for months, so I kind of need it." March said, prying his hands lose and turning to Jay.

The dragon made a frustrated noise, breath hissing out of him lowly. He was beginning to go into that frenzy he did when he was horny, and his somewhat animalistic mind didn't enjoy March trampling all over his mood.

"Fine," he growled, suddenly hooking one hand behind March's kneecap and bending it up, leaving March standing on one leg and having to hold on to him to keep steady. Jay's eyes flashed bright gold with a purple edge for a moment, his armlet, which was the only thing he still had on, flashing momentarily as well.

His tail materialized and extended itself, causing March's eyes to widen and stare, if only for its sudden appearance. But then there was the fact it was also snaking itself up towards his face, pausing just outside of his lips.  
When the green haired man didn't immediately open them, Jay growled, and snapped his teeth together frustrated, his free hand flicking March's nipples in a stinging way. "You wanted prep, you'll get it. Lube it up nice and wet, will ya?"

Now, March has done some freaky shit in his life, but sucking on dragon tail was defiantly new. But he did it anyway. He could tell Jay was the kind of person that lost his mind a little bit when he got horny, and March didn't fancy finding out what would happen should he make the Jabberwocky mad. But he also didn't like impatient partners.

After the tail was thoroughly wet, he felt it slide down his body, between his legs, and push in.

March moaned loudly.

He hadn't expected it to be so...lithe. Touching in all the right places and stretching him pleasantly.

The dragon grinned as he saw the effects of his tail, and he moved it even more skillfully, locating March's prostate and winding around the area, squeezing and milking it. He had spent eons learning human anatomy and the things his own body could do, and therefore was very skilled with both.

The moans that rang from the green haired man's throat only served to heat up his already hot body further. "That's right, bunny-butt," he purred, pressing his body into March's and nipping sharply at March's ear. "Feel it inside of you? But you want more don't you?"

He couldn't help thinking that March was lucky Hatta had put that spell on him. Because otherwise, he probably would've ignored the Hare's warning that he needed prep, and he would've raped the other without care. However, for some strange reason, he just didn't want to hurt the rabbit-wannabe that way. Then there were his instincts, which were rapidly pushing away coherent thought.

Jay suddenly felt the need to explain himself. "I wouldn't normally insist on a quickie," he growled. "But I'm a dragon that hasn't fucking mated in months. I need sex. I'll damn sure make it up to you with long, slow torturous sex later. But right now..." he trailed off, sinking his teeth into March's shoulder to make a point.

March moaned again. "Shush. I like this better anyway."

He pressed himself up to jay and kissed the dragon hard on the mouth. He pit and pulled at Jay's bottom lip until he saw a little bruise start to form. When he was satisfied with that, he moved to attack the dragon's neck. He felt Jay lift him up and March wrapped his legs around Jay's waist.

"Please..." He begged. He wanted Jay in him and he wanted it _now_.

Jay smirked and licked the outer shell of March's ear. "You asked for it," he growled slyly, and promptly slammed March's hips down into his as he thrust up, effectively impaling March on him in one hard thrust.

The shudder that ran through the Hare only added too Jay's lust, and the load cry that had accompanied said shudder shot like lightening straight from his ears to his cock deep inside the smaller man. Without warning, and without heed to anything March said, he began to move.

With each thrust, his pace became more rapid and his movements more powerful, until it was very likely the wall which Jay had the green haired March pressed against would crack with the force he put behind it.

March was a hot mess in a few seconds. "J-jericko!" he screamed. March didn't usually scream people's names, but he'd never felt this _good_ and this _full_.

He clung to Jay and nipped at his neck as he slowly rolled his hips. Then he reached up and kissed Jay.

Jay bit and tugged almost viciously at March's lips, bruising but not breaking skin as his passion reached new heights. March was so tight, so hot and pliable in his arms, it was driving him completely over the edge. Usually when he had sex, there was at least some control.

There was none here. "Fuck! Yeeesss," he hissed after breaking March's kiss. His hips crashed into March's heavily, his eyes turning completely gold and dragon-like, with their slit pupils, and his eyeteeth sharpening to draconic fangs.

Without thinking, he sank his teeth into March's shoulder, something any normal dragon would do to hold their partner down. However, that caused a surge of electricity from Hatta's runes into his body and he removed his now bloodied teeth whith an angry, growling yelp.

March hissed at the bite, but it actually added to his pleasure.

He heard the sizzle and snap of electricity and knew if it hadn't been magic, March would have taken a serious shock with all the water running over their bodies.

He had to slow this down before it got out of hand.

He splayed his hand against Jay's chest and looked up into gold and black eyes. "Shhh, calm down." He whispered tenderly. He could see this dragon had no self control. He had to remember he was fucking with a large, dangerous, and very wild animal. Literally.

And knowing how animals tend to work, March bared his throat and turned his head in just such a way that it was showing but he could also nuzzle Jay's throat.

The bite mark was now stinging, and March knew he'd have to bandage it later, but for now he ignored it and kissed at Jay's throat and his collar bones.

He rolled his hips softly, hoping he'd calmed down the dragon enough.

Jay's response to March's soothing was to simply growl and snap his teeth together threateningly, despite what had just happened with the electricity. However, that was very good considering the alternative would have been for him to rip out March's throat. It was that urge he was getting not to hurt the green haired Zion.

The gestures March took to expose himself after that registered in his primitive brain though. Submission.

Immediately attacking March's neck, though with kisses and nips rather than bites, Jay's anger cooled down immensely, though he had no idea why.

His kisses and nips went down March's shoulder, to the bite, and his tongue stroked it softly, cleaning the blood off of it and soothing the pain there as his hips picked up their pace from before. Crisis successfully averted, for now.

March sighed softly at the licks but moaned loudly at the way Jay picked up his thrusts. He pushed down just as eagerly. He felt the pressure build and he knew soon he would come.

He clenched his thighs to hurry Jay along, determined not to come alone.

Still keeping his neck bared, March tilted his head back and closed his eyes against the shower. He bit his lip and clawed at Jay's back and before long he was screaming as he came.

And he most definitely did not come alone. Jay's release was prompted not moments after, the feeling of March's inner walls clenching with his release too much for his brain to handle. The torrent of his release was accompanied by a most decidedly draconic roar, and on the last thrust, he actually did break the tile on March's shower wall.

Which earned him another shock, though not nearly as powerful as the first one. It caused him to hiss lightly, but nothing more, as he was feeling much too pleased from his release to get too angry.

March went suddenly limp as Jay released inside him.

He heard the tile crack and knew he'd have a delicious bruise on his shoulder blades for the next few days. He wouldn't be surprised if his fractured shoulder was set back in its healing process, but he didn't rightly care in that moment. The roar had sent tingles up his spine.

Slowly, as to savor it, March unwrapped his legs from around Jay and stood up. He clung to the dragon for a few seconds to regain his footing, but was soon standing on his own. He looked up at Jay tenderly and grinned.

Jay's eyes wore closed at first when March looked up, his breathing deep as he regained his composure. Slowly, he opened his eyes, only to blink repeatedly in surprise as he was greeted with the sight of the smiling Hare. The tender look...wasn't one he had ever gotten before. He didn't understand it.

"...What's that damn look for?" he grumbled, sweeping his wet hair out of his face now that he wasn't distracted anymore.

The sex had been some of the best he had ever had, and that surprised him. It had been meant to be a quickie, easy and to the point. It was awkward to have to actually speak to the person he had been fucking seconds ago. He had no idea what to do.

March shrugged. "I enjoyed myself, is all." he said. Then he turned around and picked up a white bottle of shampoo. He squirted some onto his hand and began washing his hair.

After washing his hair twice with two different type of shampoos (one that smelt like lilacs), he looked up at Jay. "Why are you staring?" he asked.

Jay shook his head, glancing away and shrugged nonchalantly. He hadn't realized he was staring. "Because you're fucking sexy," he stated simply.

Which was true. He sniffed the air a bit and gave the Hare a wicked grin. "Good enough to eat."

He sniffed a few bottles, and picked the one that smelled least girly before washing his hair and looking for a bottle of conditioner. "Feh. All this shit smells girly as fuck. We're getting me something that doesn't make me smell like a fucking pansy."

March glared at him playfully. "I like this smell and if you don't then I guess we just can't have sex!" he yelled, but then poked Jay playfully.

"Here, this conditioner has no smell." and he handed the bottle to Jay, before using three different conditioners on his hair. Soon the shower smelled like lilacs and roses.  
March went for the soap.

"Yeah, whatever," he mumbled, snatching the conditioner and procceeding to rub it into his hair. He turned his head so hide the almost unnoticeable blush that crossed his cheeks in response to March's playfulness. It wasn't something he was used to.

When he saw March reach for the soap, he gave him a playful smack on the ass, leaving a red handprint behind and smirking at the Hare when he turned. "Couldn't resist." With a shrug, he washed the conditioner out of his hair.

"And I like the smell," he admitted, and then smiled a bit. "Just not on me."

March yelped at the smack. He playfully glared at Jay.

"I'm glad you like the smell then." He then proceeded to wash his body. He ran his hands over his chest, then stomach, and slowly between his thighs. He then proceeded to turn and bend slightly to wash his rear, fingers sliding between his legs and, throwing a smirk at Jay, pressed inside to clean out the fluids there.

March couldn't resist putting on a show and he stretched himself for Jay to see. He slipped a third finger inside and moaned slightly.

Then he quickly removed all three fingers and stepped out of the shower, having completed his washing.

"Make sure to turn the water off when you're done!" he said, before wrapping himself in a bathrobe and exiting the bathroom.

Jay's eyes followed March out, wide and outraged. He had seriously begun to get right back to the aroused state he had been in before, March's little show turning him on immensely.

He growled lowly, finishing washing in a rush and switching off the water, as he was told. Which was a miracle in itself, but not something he was thinking about at the moment. Forget the shower quickie, he could easily go for a round two.

And all he had to do was follow the smell of lilac and roses to March's bedroom. He didn't even bother putting on a towel, striding straight in, in all his wet, naked glory. Leaning against March's doorway, he set a predatory black gaze on March, not saying a word.

March was standing in his room, slowly combing his hair.

He had a soft look on his face, as if his mind was elsewhere. He didn't notice Jay enter the room as he took off his bathrobe, shivering as the cool air touched his skin. He pulled a large shirt out of his drawer and slipped into it, shivering the whole time. The whole while he had an air of softness and sweetness about him.

March lifted the covers and slid underneath them, sitting up in his bed and pulling his knees to his chin. His gaze shifted to Jay and he smiled again.

"You need something to wear tonight. You can check my closet to see if you can find anything that might fit." his voice was quiet and gentle

Jay's predatory mission had faltered while he watched the Hare move about. He seriously wasn't used to people acting like this around him at all. March seemed so relaxed, and didn't act like he had anything against him or any reservations about him at all.

Without the dragon's knowledge, he was being soothed into a calmer state even now, though admittedly he wasn't _much_ better. But he didn't feel a need to tear the house to shreds, or kill nearby people.

He nodded once, and marched over to the closet, rummaging through it and just threw stuff on the floor of the closet when it didn't interest him.

March frowned at the clothes throwing. He stood and silently began picking them up as Jay threw them. "Find anything of interest?" he asked, trying to keep up with Jay's throws.

He gave up with a quiet sigh and turned to the bed to smooth out the clothes so when Jay was done throwing he could put them back on hangers.

"Yeah," he said after tossing a few more clothes.

He pulled out a shirt that looked like it would fit him and a pair of pants, then raised an eyebrow at March. "I know this shit doesn't fit you. What the fuck's it doing in your closet?" he questioned.

March shrugged. "Probably an old lover's. You can have them if you want." he said and began putting things back on hangers and putting them back in his closet.

He then smiled at Jay again. "Tomorrow we'll find you a couple pairs of proper pajamas." He was shivering.

Jay tried not to make a sour face. For some reason, the idea didn't appeal to him. "Nah, fuck that shit. I'll wear it tonight, but I'll burn the shit tomorrow."

March shook his head. "No, you're not allowed to burn those clothes. I rather like them. They're good for guests."

Not seconds after saying that, he pulled on the items and grimaced. He could smell the last person who had been in them. One of the times when having super sensitive smell was _not_ an advantage. Turning his gaze to March, his black eyes narrowed, seeing the shivers taking hold of the Hare's body.

"...You look like you're freezing your damn ass off," he commented, showing his white teeth in a dragon-like smirk and gesturing to himself. "My body temperature is higher than a human's. I could...keep you warm..."

The comment was innocent enough, but the look in his eye was most decidedly not pure in any way.

He walked slowly back to the bed and sat on it. "You're welcome to sleep here tonight, but I'm rather tired." he said, indicating he had no desire for anymore sex.

He was still shivering.

Jay's eyes narrowed. He could pick up on the hint easily, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Under normal circumstances, he would've held the little Zion down and made him take it, not caring at all whether or not the Hare was tired. However, there was Hatta's stupid spell...and that small nagging at the back of his mind. Yes, he wanted sex, but he wouldn't force it just yet.

"Whatever you say," he said evenly, and slipped into bed beside March.

Without pausing, he pulled the smaller man against him, and his natural warmth could easily be felt. A normal human would probably die if they were the same temperature as him, his average temperature being around 106 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Your shivering will get annoying, so stay fucking close so you'll be fucking warm," he muttered.

March obediently curled up against Jay and rested his head on the other's chest. "Thank you" he whispered quietly.

All was silent for a brief moment before March looked up at him and said, "If it weren't for those wristbands, you would've raped me already, wouldn't you?" His face was expressionless and his voice flat.

Jay looked down at him, his own expression carefully blank. To lie or not to lie...?

"...Probably," he answered after a moment.

"I won't try and convince you I'm a fucking good person now, and don't expect me to get all goody-goody two shoes," he growled lowly, trying to project aggression into his voice where, for once in his life, he couldn't come up with any. He was feeling...bad? He couldn't tell.

What he was feeling was a very shallow version of shame. Because yes, he would have raped March if he knew he wouldn't get electrocuted for it. "I'm evil. You're sleeping with evil, and you fucked evil. That's just the way it is."

March was silent for a moment before he nodded. "I figured. I was only testing you this evening. I'm usually up for five or six rounds before bed. But I have a feeling shopping tomorrow is going to be a tiresome adventure so I want to sleep. Goodnight, Jabberwocky. Dream, if you can."

And with those words March fell asleep, Jay close behind.


	2. Shopping

Chapter 2: Shopping

The next morning, Jericko woke up first, surprisingly. Another surprise, especially to him, he was still holding the Hare. He made a disgusted expression, quickly getting up out of bed silently without even stirring his green haired companion. He smirked bitterly to himself, watching March sleep for a few seconds, mostly because he couldn't tell whether he was disgusted with March or himself.

Silently, he stalked his way downstairs, expression brooding and unusually thoughtful. What should he do now? It was too early to just wake March up, but he would never be able to go back to sleep now that he was awake.

He paced around the house for a few minutes, memorizing the layout out of boredom, but then an idea sunk in. Hatta's spell made him unable to break or injure anything, but that didn't mean he couldn't follow his old morning routine and train.

With that focus in mind, he looked for a spacious place to so, eventually ending up just behind March's house, not wanting to accidentally knock something over inside and get electrocuted for it.

Removing his shirt because he felt March wouldn't like him sweating all over it, he simply began sparring with an invisible partner, his moves quick and aggressive, as if he was emptying all of his excess rage into this imaginary person.

March woke up an hour later with no Jabberwocky in his bed. He looked around briefly before stretching and getting up. It'd been a long time since he'd gotten such a restful sleep.

Deciding it'd be ok to walk around in only his far too large t-shit, he went downstairs and scrounged for ingredients for breakfast, deciding to make food and then go find Jay.

After making one omelet that was mostly meat and the size of the plate it was on, March wandered into his backyard and was pleased to find a sweating, half naked Jericko doing pushups.

He was reluctant to stop him.

"Jay, it's time for breakfast. There's food on the table for you," he mumbled. He was stuck between gazing at the sweaty torso of a very sexy dragon man and stopping said dragon man in order to feed him.

Jay had heard March coming, though he had given no inclination of such. At the mumble, he smirked and pushed to his feet, walking over to his host. He only paused to slide a finger up March's neck and under his chin, tilting the green haired Zion's face up to look at his smirking face. "Look all you want, babe," he purred, drawing his tongue across his teeth briefly.

He sauntered back inside towards the smell of food, feeling March's eyes on his back.

For some reason, it pleased him immensely that March was looking at him. It felt good to look sexy for the Zion.

But he soon forgot all thoughts of being attractive for March when his eyes settled on the food. The smell of meat invaded his nostrils and his stomach growled to life within moments. Before March was even in the room, Jericko was sitting at the table and devouring the meaty omelet.

March smiled and sat in one of the chairs. He took a banana from the fruit bowl and peeled it open.

"Today we're going shopping. This is going to be an all day adventure seeing as you need an entire wardrobe and other basic necessities, and I need to restock my food supply, seeing as I now have a roommate who eats more in one meal than I eat in a week," March said in between banana munching.

Jericko paused in his eating and pointed his fork at March. "It's a fucking instinct, y'know? Who knows when I'll be able to eat again? Antoine was a moody bastard," he said with a full mouth, swallowing heavily.

He put his feet on the table, leaning back on the back legs of his chair. "And another thing; you better fucking try to keep the damn people away from me. I won't be responsible for any shit that happens to them otherwise. Your damn Hatter has too much faith in me...seems to be a problem with those damn crazy bastards..." he grumbled.

His black eyes scanned over March eating his banana then. Something nagged at him once more. "...Aren't you going to eat more than that? Going to fucking collapse eating like a damn bee..."

March raised an eyebrow. "I think you'll be just fine in public. If anyone bothers you just ignore them and they'll go away. If they don't go away then I'll tell them to go away. But we shouldn't be bothered. As for food, I'll make you breakfast and dinner, but other than that I don't care what you eat. Just don't eat everything in my pantry," he stated.

He tossed his banana peel into the nearby trashcan and said, "As for how much I eat, that's my concern and not yours."

He then looked back at Jay and smiled.

Jay scanned that smile with a suspicious look. "What the fuck ever. I just didn't wanna go through the trouble of picking your unconscious ass up when you pass out."

"As for how I'll do around people," he continued, getting up and dumping his plate in the sink. "I haven't been in fucking public other than to kill people in...well, ever. If it weren't for that damn Teraclese teaching me to speak and understand, I wouldn't even be able to fucking speak to you. So my social skills are non-existent, as a fair warning."

He stretched then, a lithe rippling of his muscles, cracking noises echoing from his back. "The fuck are my clothes?" he questioned.

"I haven't gotten around to washing them yet. Go ahead and give me the ones you're wearing and I'll wash them while you take a shower," March replied.

He stood and stretched his arms and yawned, his large shirt climbing up his thighs and revealing just about everything.

He turned to Jay and said, "Ok, hand me your clothes and go get in the shower in _your_ bathroom. There are small bottles of generic soaps and shampoos underneath the sink in there. We'll get you your own stuff today."

Jay's black eyes seemed to have latched on to the climbing edge of that shirt and stayed there. It took seconds for those eyes to heat with lust, and he didn't try in any way to hide it. In one swift movement, he was in front of March and had a fist clenched in the Hare's green locks.

"How about a morning round?" he growled out huskily, claiming March's lips in a rough, demanding kiss and not allowing him to pull away due to the fist in his hair.

March grinned and nodded.

One hour and one scorching round of sex later, Jericko showered and emerged wrapped in a towel to sniff out March once more and ask about his clothes. It didn't take but a minute for him to pull on his familiar black pants, purple tee, and black vest.

It made him feel almost normal, to have these familiar things on again.

Idly, he looked down at his armlet. "This...is one familiar thing I could stand to get rid of..." he muttered, turning his arm a few ways and inspecting the piece of jewelry keeping him in human form that he had grown so familiar with.

March smiled as he looked Jay up and down. "You clean up nice," he said.

March himself had dressed in a light green t-shirt with a darker green hoodie over it. He had on pale green pants and boots. It was mid February in March's Wonderland and the outside was still wet, cloudy, and cold.

"Come on, Jay. We've got a shit load of stuff to do today," he said, holding his front door open for Jay.

"I don't do anything 'nice'," Jay grumbled, marching out of the door and standing outside, waiting for March. It wasn't that he wanted to walk with the Hare, but he didn't exactly have a choice, considering he had no idea where anything was in this Wonderland. The weather didn't affect him much, due to his higher than average body temperature, and it seemed like he steamed a little when the cold moisture tried to condensate on his skin.

His eyes were cold and unfeeling to the foreign world around him. "Your world is a shit ton of boring so far," he said idly.

Then his ears twitched and he turned, hissing at some bushes, from which, a bunch of little furry animals emerged and ran away squealing.

March rolled his eyes. "Nice to know I'm boring. Don't scare the animals. Come on, it's a bit of a walk to the shopping district and I need to assimilate you to society," he said, and began walking.

Jay rolled his eyes. "I said the fucking world, not you. You're not as bitchy as I thought you'd be, which is a big ass plus."

He followed along beside March, obviously trying to look like he knew where he was going even though he most certainly didn't. Anything alive within hearing distance of their steps seemed to pause and cower when he passed, and his mildly interested expression quickly turned back to its usual slightly pissed and cruel one.

March didn't seem to notice.

"Rule one of people: No glaring, hissing, or growling. Just ignore anyone who approaches you. Rule two: Cooperate with me or I'll end up picking out all your stuff and I can assure you we have different tastes in just about everything. If I think of anymore rules I'll inform you," March said with authoritativeness.

Jay suddenly stepped in front of March and glared down at him, eyes narrow and menacing. "Screw you and your fucking rules. I've have just about enough of people telling me what I can and can't fucking do," he growled.

He then turned and walked forward a little before realizing through his angry haze that he had no idea where he was going. "...I am not meant to be bound by rules," he hissed almost to himself, clenching his fists at his sides. But he had no choice but to do as March said or his existence would not be an enjoyable one here.

"I'll try and do as you say. Try. Cause I need some damn clothes..." he conceded, loud enough for March to hear him this time.

March grinned and replied, "I didn't hear you complaining about screwing me this morning. And you're going to follow my rules until you prove you don't need them and then we can part ways and possibly never speak to each other again unless we decide the sex is really just that good."

He continued walking, breezing by Jay as if he wasn't there, but expecting him to follow.

Jay tried, and failed, to hide his shocked expression at the amount of lip March was giving him. No one spoke to him that way. It was making him extremely angry and frustrated that he didn't get any of his usual fearing respect from _anyone_ in this Wonderland. And yet...it was so refreshing. He tried not to be happy about the fact no one was cowering in fear from him, because it was all he had ever known, and he had thought he enjoyed it that way.

Immersed in those thoughts, he almost lost March while he was just standing there thinking with a frustrated expression on his face, but soon snapped out of it and was on the green haired Zion's heels in an instant, although he still didn't look happy.

Was happy even an expression he could make when he wasn't causing other's pain?

March soon decided walking was too much effort and transported Jay and himself to the shopping district.

They appeared in the middle of a long shopping mall that was absolutely crowded with people. Jay and March were jostled and bumped just standing where they were.

Seeing as this might bother the anti-social and moody Jabberwocky, March quickly took Jay's hand and dragged him to the side of the street where there was slightly less people.

March looked up at Jay. "Pick a shop. Whatever you want," he told him.

The dragon looked down at March, then back to the shops with a slightly surprised expression. Until March had spoken, his anger at being jostled and touched by so many people had been quietly brewing beneath the surface. But it seemed like March's speaking to him dumped cold water on that anger, tamping it down if nothing else.

"Hmm," he mused, glancing around the stores.

After a moment he pointed to one that looked like it was filled nothing but goth and punk looking clothes, mostly because what he saw was lots of dark colors, and that's what he wanted. This time he was the one that pulled March forward, a small amount of childish excitement radiating from him. First Teraclese, then Antoine, had always been in control of every aspect of his life.

Once inside the shop, he got a few stares, but only due to his height and the mixed excited/murderous vibes he was giving off. Most submissive people felt an innate pull to him, and at the same time, a slight fear they couldn't explain.

Until those people saw March.

The Hare's green eyes quickly pinpointed a would be shop lifter and the teenage boy with pink hair cowered under the green stare and returned the stolen good back to their shelves. It was quickly figured out that this man was a Zion and any previous shenanigans were to be stopped.

March turned to Jay. "Well, have at it. You can get whatever you want. Just not all black. I think you'd look good in more colors," He said.

Jay stared at the pink haired teen for a few more seconds, his black gaze scaring the young man even more. Barely reigned in violence reflected there, but that was just normal. Jay was more interested in the pink hair. "That's not fucking normal," he commented, gesturing towards the boy. "I mean, I've seen a shit ton of weird hair colors, but stuff like that's rare in our fucking Wonderland. I saw over a good damn dozen people with crazy hair like that out there too."

It interested him. After all, he might not look it, but he _was_ over seven thousand years old, so for him to find something he had never seen before was a feat.

He shrugged then, looking away from the teen, who let out a relieved breath and booked it out of the store. Jay paid no attention after that, and was busy pawing through clothes. He mumbled to himself and got increasingly frustrated a few times, but ended up picking out a few good shirts and pants, most of which were black, but there were blues, reds and dark purples intermixed.

"Here hold these," he said in a distracted tone, handing the items to March and then making a beeline for a section full of things like hoodies and leather jackets.

March shrugged and said, "It's normal here."

As his arms were filled with clothing he asked, "So, is the measuring system for clothing the same in your Wonderland or are you just guessing?"

He dumped all the clothing in a cart and started following behind Jay, pushing the cart with him.

Jay shrugged, preoccupied. "I had my fucking clothes tailored, and I'm not as damn stupid as I look. Measuring system's different, but I can tell how big shit is by looking at it. Fabric is fucking easy to analyze when I've seen people do it a few times, plus I'm very familiar with inches and centimeters. Oh, and those are Wonderland _and_ Earth measurements, by the way," he said as he pulled a few jackets down and looked at them.

It was almost shocking how he could be so crude yet still know what he was talking about inside and out. He had a hobby that required him to know those measurements, though Antoine didn't know that he knew how to do anything other than kill and speak.

He picked out two jackets, one of which was an ankle length trench coat riddled with buckles, a hoodie, and an extra black vest, then threw them in the cart. "There. We fucking done now?"

March shook his head. "You have to try some of these on. You may be great at eyeballing clothes but until you prove it I'm not buying shit. Go try some of this on," he said and began walking towards the changing room.

Jay blinked, his expression turning into a dark glare moments later. He gave of a murderous aura as he followed March. However, some idiot teenager with electric blue hair decided to ignore those waves, and made the mistake of trying to pickpocket the dragon. His wrist got caught quickly in a death grip, and the kid immediately realized he'd made a horrible mistake with his target.

Jericko's glare could curdle blood, and his sudden smile was no smile at all. "Hey...kid..." he said in a creepy voice, his grip tightening so much it forced the teenager to his knees. "You got a mother fucking death wish?"

The teen rapidly shook his head, eyes huge and starting to tear up in pain. "N-no! Let go you crazy mother fucker!" he boy whimpered.

"That's right," Jay purred, drawing a now slightly pointed fingernail down the teen's cheek. He was careful not to break skin so he wouldn't get electrocuted yet. If he was going to get shocked, he was going to wait until it was worth it. He chuckled, the sound making the blue haired boy shake even more. "I'm crazy, and looking for an outlet. You should be damn careful who you pickpocket...never fucking know who they might be."

His eyes underlet with draconic gold, and he raised a hand, obviously intending to do extreme physical harm to the now scared shitless teen.

March sighed and turned around. "Jay let the kid go. He's just a stupid teenager," he said, and placed his hand on top of Jay's hand that was holding the teenager.

Jay wouldn't let go.

March raised his green eyes and stared the dragon man in his black ones. "I can always trigger those pretty red wrist bans manually. So let go before I do something I don't want to do," he said authoritivley.

As Jay reluctantly let go, March turned to face the blue haired teen.

"What's your name?" March asked.

"G-gabriel Ozone," the boy sheepishly replied. His eyes kept flitting back and forth between March and Jay. He didn't like that black haired man.

March pulled out a small green notepad and, removing a pen from its spirals, began writing.

Gabriel moaned, "Oh come on. I can't afford a ticket."

March smirked and said, "You should have thought about that before you tried to steal." He ripped the ticket off its pad and stuck it to Gabriel's forehead. "Now get out of here," March ordered and Gabriel scurried out.

March turned to Jay with a sunny smile. "Shall we continue?" He said brightly, and stopped the cart beside the changing room. He handed Jay a few of the things from the cart. "Now go try these on. I want to see each of them so come back out here for each one. I'll be right here," he said.

Jay seethed quietly. Great, so March could control the wristbands manually. So, the little green haired bitch could shock him any time he felt like it...just great. Sure, the kid had only been a petty thief, but it would've been a relay for his anger other than March, because it still bugged him to cause too much pain to the Zion.

However, it seemed he wasn't going to get his clothes if he didn't spend his time trying on the damned things, and he really wanted his clothes. In this case, his selfishness and desire to have his own clothes was outweighing his desire to murder something.

"Fine," he snapped, taking the clothes and storming into the changing room.

A few minutes later, he came out wearing the trench coat, a red t-shirt, and one of his pairs of pants. "They fit, like I said," he grumbled, not making eye contact with March. Secretly, he was hoping the Hare would like the way he looked.

March look him up and down. "I like it. Turn around," he said, and Jay grudgingly turned.

"Well they look like they fit. Go try something else on," he said. As Jay walked back to the changing room something caught March's eye on the nearby clothes rack. He turned to look at a light purple button up Oxford shirt. What an Oxford shirt was doing in a punk rock store he'll never know, but he grabbed one in Jay's size and walked back to the dragon's dressing room and knocked on the door. "Open up, I have something I want you to try on," he said.

"The fuck is it?" Jay grumbled, sticking his hand out and grabbing it.

He looked at the shirt in his hand and glared at March through the door. "Why...the hell is this even in the store...?" he said to himself. He contemplated just throwing it back at March and telling him to screw himself, but when he thought about it, it was highly likely he would need a dress shirt at some point, and the color wasn't that bad.

He put it and a pair of relatively nice pants on, then ruffled through his stuff he brought into the room and found a black tie, which he also put on. When he came out, the dragon looked almost embarrassed when he didn't automatically receive some kind of feedback on the outfit. "...Well...?" he snapped, shoving his hands in his pockets.

March looked Jay up and down.

"It's...um...did I ever tell you I have a thing for well dressed men? Because I have a thing for well dressed men," March muttered and quickly shoved Jay back into the changing room and shut and locked the door.

One blowjob later March came out of the stall and readjusted himself.

"Once you're back in your clothes bring the rest to the checkout counter. I'm going to start checking out," he said and left the changing area to push the cart to the checkout counters.

He decided the next store would be a fine clothing store. It would be a crime if Jay didn't have at least two suits and a tux. A _crime._

It didn't take long for Jay to put his clothes back on and meet March at the register. As for him, he felt a whole lot better now that he had rammed his dick down March's throat a few times.

Once they checked out, March pulled him into that fine clothing store, because it was so close. Jay didn't actually care, he found he enjoyed shopping for his own clothes a lot more than he expected. It gave him control where he'd never had any before.

Within moments, he picked out an all black suit and a deep crimson shirt that reminded him of the color of blood, changing into it and coming out for March's viewing.

March liked what he saw and barely managed to contain himself through the second suit and tux fitting.

Once the trying on part was done, a loud thumping could be heard throughout the store coming from the direction of the changing rooms.

No one dared say a thing when March and Jay came out looking tousled and thoroughly satisfied.

A lunch break was taken at a little cafe on the shopping district.

As March delicately nibbled on a tiny sandwich he looked at Jay, who was scarfing down a huge bowl of beef soup, and asked, "Where do you want to go next? We still have to get you things like a bathrobe, night clothes, and casual clothes, but is there anything you want? Like books or hobby stuff?"

Jay paused in his gulping and a thoughtful expression appeared which looked ridiculous because his cheeks were full of soup. He swallowed it in one big gulp and sighed in satisfaction, then put on a serious face. "...Carving tools. And wood. Lots of wood," he muttered, unable to look March in the eye. He'd never told anyone about his little wood carving hobby, except for Teraclese and Antoine, who ridiculed him for it.

He then shrugged. "I mean, it's fucking whatever. If you even have a damn store for that here."

March nodded. "Sure. There's a craft store a few streets over and we can stop by the wood mill on our way home. They should have plenty of cut and uncut wood. But first we're going to go by the supermarket. You still need stuff like soap and whatever care products," he said. He finished his tiny sandwich and went to pay the check while Jay scarfed down the rest of his soup.

At the supermarket they stopped first at the clothing section. "I know you like leather and black stuff, but I would strongly suggest you have ample supply of t-shirts and jeans. The cold season is almost over so let's go ahead and get you warmer stuff so you're not unprepared for next winter. I don't care if you can't feel the cold or not," March said.

While Jay was browsing through the clothes March walked off and brought back a soft purple and black bathrobe. "Do you like this?" He asked.

Jay had a few clothing items in his hand, and looked up at March surprised, almost as if he had forgotten the other man was actually here in the store with him. He looked the robe up and down. "Yeah. Fucking great," he conceded, nodding and holding up his selections.

"Here. Got the damn stuff. Now what?" he questioned.

"Warm stuff and body care stuff," the Hare replied.

After warm clothing was picked out they went to the personal hygiene section. "You need soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, razors, and any hair ties or whatever. I'll be right here. Have fun," March said.

The personal care section was only a few isles big so March didn't mind Jay walking around in it on his own.

Jay nodded and walked up and down the aisles. He sniffed bottles he thought he might like and picked out a few things, tossing them into the baskets, sometimes all the way from the other end of the isle. He got a few hair ties, just because he knew he probably wasn't going to want his hair down all the time like at the castle.

He didn't buy a razor, and when March questioned why, he told him it was because he didn't actually grow facial hair. Other than the stripe of fur that went down his back in dragon form, he was completely scaled, and therefore had no natural hair anywhere but his head.

There weren't many people on these isles, and when there were, they seemed to mysteriously not need whatever they came there for and leave immediately, leaving the dragon free and anything that could annoy him enough to spark his quick temper.

After the basket was full they checked out. March then magically zapped the bags home like he'd been doing all day and they headed to the craft store.

He handed jay a hand basket and told him he could get whatever he wanted. He also told Jay that he is aware Jay is a grown ass man and can take care of himself therefore as long as Jay didn't leave the store, he didn't need March beside him.

From there they both spent two hours in the store filling up their baskets.

They met at a register at the end of the two hours. March's basket contained a thick sketch book and colored pencils and markers.

"So what all did you get?" He asked Jay.

Jay gestured to his stuff and shrugged. "Everything I needed. A few different sizes of chisels and carving knives, a few picks for detail, wood finisher, lacquer, sand paper, and some sculpting clay for when there's no wood around..."

Surprisingly there wasn't a single curse word in that whole sentence. If there was anything Jay was serious about, it was his woodcarving.

March smiled and realized he'd just seen a side of Jay for the briefest second there he figured not many people had seen.

March then transported them to the wood mill.

A worker came up to them and asked what they wanted. March briefly explained why they were there and soon the worker was taking Jay around and showing him the various woods.

"And this here is the black and white wood from the Checkerboard Forest. Real fine stuff. Over there's the multicolored wood from the Tulgey Woods. Rare wood that is, the Hatters don't let us harvest many Tulgey trees..." and on and on. March silently walked behind the two men as he tried to figure out where this wood would be stored.

He figured his basement since there wasn't anything in his basement. He'd have to have some of this wood cut smaller so it could fit through his door...

He was pulled out of his thought when Jay called his name.

"So, make any decisions?" he asked.

Jay nodded. "I'm going to need a whole lot of this dark wood here, it's almost exactly like the kind I use back home, a few good size blocks, and I do mean blocks, of the Checkerboard wood, and only a few smaller units, around 5 cubic inches each, of every color of the multicolored ones," he said, gesturing to each wood as he spoke.

One could practically see the dollar signs in the seller's eyes as he said what he wanted.

The dragon was being unusually civil, but only because if he didn't, he wouldn't get his wood, and he _really_ wanted his wood. He also picked up a small cube of a straw colored wood and gestured to it. "You...selling this...?" he questioned.

The man looked at it and chuckled, shaking his head. "Naw, looks like scraps from something he cut, just take it if you want it."

Jay grunted in response and kept it in his hand. "March, pay for the shit, will you?"

As soon as the salesman turned around to talk to March, Jay elongated one of his claws and began scratching away at the cube.

As March wrote a check for the man, he watched as Jay carved away at the wood block.

He looked so calm. This was his element. March decided he was going to use this to his advantage in the future.

The worker ordered all the requested wood cut and within thirty minutes it was all stacked together and March transported the wood, Jay, and himself to the back yard of his house.

He looked up at Jay, who was still carving at his little wooden block. "I'm going to unpack the mountain of bags in the kitchen while you take all this wood and go through that glass door there. It leads to my basement, you can have that area as wood storage," he said, motioning to the glass double door.

He left Jay to his devices and went inside to unpack the fifty bags.

It mostly involved him removing tags and neatly folding clothes and putting them on Jay's bed. He'd also bought hangers while they'd been out and staked them on top of the clothes so Jay could hang up what he wanted and such. He then placed all bags that had body care items into Jay's bathroom. He'd leave Jay to sort it out however he wanted.

By time all of this was done it was around sunset and March was beginning to get hungry.

He went back to his kitchen and opened the fridge. Upon seeing it fully stocked, he was immensely happy that the Magical Grocery Delivery Service existed; else he would have had to buy and put away all this food himself. His pantry was in much the same position.

Despite all the food that was now in his house, he really didn't feel like cooking an elaborate meal. So he heated up some canned soup and went outside to see how Jay was doing.

The raven haired man was sitting under a tree staring at the little replica of his bed he had carved. It was only about the size of a baseball, but it was so intricately detailed, it looked like a small person could lay on it. There was a comforter and pillows as well as the bed frame, and he had made it look like the fabric was silky smooth.

Twirling the little piece of wood on his finger tip, he glanced up at March, then stood and handed it to March.

"That's what a real bed fucking looks like. Yours in a boring piece of shit compared to that. It's only one one-sixtieth scale, but I'm sure you get the picture," he said bluntly, strolling inside to dig through March's refrigerator, now that he knew there was food. He seemed much calmer after carving all day.

The little bed model in March's hand was a small piece of art, really. Once looked at for a second, it was easy to see it could be taken apart. The covers and pillows came off, and inside was the bed frame with empty space, to make a little box in which you could put things.

March looked down at the replica and back to Jay. "Well excuuuse me for having a shitty spare bedroom. I have a small house and I've never had guests before. Take your grandeur attitude down a couple notches. You're in no position to insult my house. And there's soup on the stove, dumbass," he retorted.

But really, this little bed carving was absolutely gorgeous. March was glad that Jay would get to practice his art.

He set the little bed on the table before he went and got himself a small bowl of soup..

"Be sure to take that carving back to your room. It'll get broken if it stays out here," he said in between spoonfuls of soup.

Jay was pretty much just eating out of the pot with a big spoon and rolled his eyes. "Was just saying. I mean, damn. You guys are the fucking equivalent of our Nobles, so shouldn't you be living in a big ass mother fucking house? Or are you a fucking recluse, and I had to get stuck with the guy who likes tiny assed houses?" he drawled, actually sipping his soup instead of devouring now.

"And as for the damn bed thing..." He shrugged, finishing off his soup and propping his feet up on the table as he leaned back. "It's just a thing I did to pass the time. I'm used to burning anything I don't use, Antoine didn't like my shit laying everywhere. 'Specially when it sucked when I was first starting out. So it doesn't matter to me. Trash it if you like."

"All of us have regular sized houses. We don't need a 'big ass motherfucking house'. Why take up so much space that could be put to better use?" March said.

It was true, he and the other Zion's could easily afford and had the right to have mansions if they so pleased. He knew for a fact Hatta's house was magically larger in several rooms, but still mostly house sized. Plus, Hatta needed the space. She had two rambunctious kids. The Hatter had also expanded his house slightly when Ches had moved in. But for the most part none of their houses were extravagantly large.

March watched Jay finish the soup.

"I am so done for the night. I'm getting a shower and going to bed. Just put that pot in the sink when you're done with it, ok?" he said, and walked out of the kitchen.

His shower was cleansing and extremely hot. Afterwards he brushed his teeth and out on his bathrobe.

He left the bathroom and found Jay sitting on his bed, staring out the window.

The Hare wasn't sure if the Jabberwocky was there for sex or not, so he simply sat by him and stared out the window with him.

"..." Jay just sat there; uncharacteristically quiet for a few moments. "...How long until that freaky redhead takes these things off?" he asked, rubbing his wrists. He figured March would know what he was talking about. It made his skin crawl, knowing there was yet another thing keeping him imprisoned from a part of him.

Then suddenly, he shook his head, and his thoughtful expression disappeared, replaced by a wicked grin. "Never fucking mind. Who gives a shit...I just hope your bed's strong..." he purred, tugging March and suddenly tossing him on the bed, coming down hard on top of him and pinning him down by his arms.

"Because I think it's time you found out why I usually kill my bed partners."

March had opened his mouth to answer, but quickly found it covered by Jay's.

He practically purred, "Good." He easily removed Jay's clothes and Jay quickly got rid of March's bathrobe.

Lube was hastily applied to all necessary areas before March yanked Jay back down for another kiss. He lifted his hips for the dragon's access.

Which Jay quickly took advantage of; driving into March with a force that easily bruised him, forcing the noirette's entire length inside of the little Zion. His eyes were yellow, his draconic pupils tiny slits, and his claws making their appearance. Within moments, he had his hands under March's knees and had his legs pushed up, practically folding the Hare in half in his almost frenzy-like state.

March screamed in equal amounts of pain and pleasure. He would have attempted to slow Jay down, but there was more to this than just a fuck.

Something told March Jay needed this, so he simply lay back and took it. Not that he really minded. He rotated his hips slowly, gauging the reaction he got.

Jay showed his teeth threateningly when March moved at first, and while one hand stayed pinning March's arm, the other moved to his hip, his claws digging into March's flesh as he pinned the hips down as well. A shock went through him as the blood started to drip, but he didn't stop in his powerful thrusts, even though he jerked with the force of the current.

And the smell of the blood set him off even more. His thrusts increased in strength to the point where the bed was banging against the wall with every movement, and he got little shocks every once in a while which just added anger to his frenzy.

March was gasping at this point. Had he been anyone else he'd be crying in pain. But this...he kind of liked this.

But apparently Jay really didn't want him moving, so March ceased most movement.

Several minutes went by and March could feel his climax approaching.

His back arched as orgasm overtook him, and he screamed Jay's name.

The same draconic roar from the night before escaped Jericko when March came, along with the raking of the clawed hands down March's hip and thigh when Jay came as well. Not a second after he finished, the strongest shock yet radiated from the runes on his wrists, causing an agonized yelp and his body to fall out on the floor.

He dug his claws into the floor, which only made the shocks worse, and roared once more, then clenched his teeth and simply waited the currents out.

When it was over he lay there, claws embedded on the floor, and just panted, anger and a need to kill living in his eyes before he promptly punched the floor hard enough to dent the wood inward but not break it.

Meanwhile, March was laying on the bed, thighs bleeding and bruises forming.

He looked down at Jay and saw not a man, but an angry, abused dragon. A being that was given an unfair lot on life and forced to live with it.

March would have to talk to Hatta about those runes tomorrow.

But for now, the March crawled to the edge of the bed and very slowly, as to give him plenty of warning, touched Jay's arms.

"Come back up here, please," he said softly. He worded his request to give Jay the choice of turning it down or not.

As the dragon climbed back onto the bed and lay down, March snuggled up and kissed him on the mouth softly. He was being perfectly submissive and sweet.

He was beginning to see just what Jay was suffering through and decided right there he would take as much as Jay's suffering from him as he could. He knew what it was like to suffer alone, and he knew it was something no creature should have to go through.

He rested his head and hand on Jay's chest and caressed small circles into his skin.

Slowly, Jay's draconic attributes dissolved, until he was clawless and his eyes were back to their dark onyx color. Detachedly, he looked at his blood covered fingers, bringing them close to his lip as if he might try to lick them, but then he only clenched his hand and laid it back down again.

"How fast do you heal?" he questioned blankly.

"Not very. Slightly faster than a regular human but not instantly. It'll take me a few days for the cuts and bruises to heal," March answered, "but that doesn't matter right now."

He looked up at Jay to see him staring at the ceiling. "Care to share what you're thinking about?" he asked.

Jay continued his ceiling staring. "...Why didn't Alex fucking kill me when he had the chance? Everyone else fucking wanted it...if he wasn't high king, the Caterpillar; he would've been overruled damn quick. All seeing Caterpillar...he knows me. But he didn't realize I would rather be dead than be restricted this way again."

Left unsaid that those words meant he had been shocked like this before.

"That's what I'm fucking thinking. If I can't be free, I would rather die than live another thousand years bound." In his voice was raw pain, not merely skin deep, but soul deep. He was a dragon, a wild animal, meant to be free. That part of him called to him, and he couldn't answer it. Not ever again without causing himself immense pain, now that there were no Vivaldi's to give him permission to change.

He then turned over, effectively saying that he was done talking for the night.

March listened silently but said not a word.

He then rolled to his back and was awake for another hour thinking before finally falling asleep with a final conclusion on his mind.

Life was fucking unfair.


	3. Hatta's Big Adventure

Chapter 3: Hatta's Big Adventure

Wake up.

Your children are crying. You can hear them from their open door down the hall.

Sit up, rub your eyes, roll out of bed, and go down the hall and into their room.

There they are, huddled on one of the beds, holding each other.

They're asleep. A nightmare.

You go to their side and gently rub their backs, pulling them out of their troubled sleep.

They blink blearily up at you, eyes still leaking tears. You wipe them away and tell them it was just a dream.

They sit up and rub their eyes then look up at you. They're hungry, Mommy.

You look at the clock and sigh.

And that's how the busy day of the Hatta started at 4:30am.

-

Breakfast was more of a light snack of cereal in front of the tv because it was far too early for a full on meal.

At 5:30 Hatta received a call from the White Rabbit. It seems they were given a request to send someone over to remove all of Jericko's things from the premises of their Heart Castle, and it seemed Hatta was the only one available for the job.

She sighed again and called her brother.

Arrangements were soon made for the twins to stay with her brother while she was gone and she spent the next hour getting herself and the twins ready for the day.

At 6:30 she herded everyone out the door and locked it behind her and transported them all to the castle.

There she found her brother, the March Hare, and Jericko.

Apparently March had a large bruise across his shoulders and Hatter was healing it. Hatta had a pretty good guess where the bruise came from. Probably the same place March's slight limp had come from.

"Hello, brother. Here are your charges," she said with a smile, and she knelt down to Dee and Dum's level. "Boys, you're going to be spending the day, and possibly night, with Uncle Hatter, ok?" she said. They nodded and smiled.

Then she stood and found March standing near, patiently waiting for her attention. He said a few things to her and she nodded. She headed over to the Jabberwocky.

"Yo, March tells me the Automatic Shock system on those wrist bands are really crampin' your style. Hold out your wrists, I'm going to change the runes up a bit," she said, and held out her hands for Jay to place his wrists in.

Jay looked at her suspiciously, as if he didn't believe she would change them for the better, maybe even the worse. However, he held his wrists out anyway, because if there was a chance she wasn't lying, it would be worth it in his opinion. He was debating on telling Hatter about the claw marks on March's hips and thighs as well.

Not because he cared, mind you, but because it would suck for the dragon if they got infected or something and March ended up dying or being in too much pain to have sex.

"I need to be able to fucking train. It would be damn great if you could make it to where I don't have to be worried about being fucking shocked from breaking a few boards or mannequins," he said sarcastically. However, it was the closest he had ever been to actually asking permission for something.

"It's cool, yo. I'm taking off the Automatic Shock. Manual Shock only. It'll be up to march to make judgment calls on weather you deserve a shock or not. The other Zions and myself can manually shock you, too. So be on your best behavior," Hatta said and touched the runes. They shrunk to about half the size they were before and the rune pattern changed slightly.

March smiled up at Jay. "Better?" he asked.

Jay's smile wasn't humorous at all. "Much," he purred.

Despite the huge service Hatta had just done him, his held nothing but cold disdain for both her and Hatter. None of the Zions would be getting any real smiles or even semi-hospitable gestures any time soon from him. He could very easily say he hated all of them with a passion, and not even March could make him doubt that.

March's smile wavered slightly. He could almost feel Jay's hate. March didn't like being hated. He never had.

"Anyway, Jay, I'm going to your Wonderland. I've been asked to pack up all your shit and bring it back here to you. Anything you want me to leave behind or take extra special care of? Otherwise I'm just packing up everything in boxes," she asked him.

The White Rabbit went up to Hatta. "Hatta, you have to GO. You can't be late," he urged.

Hatta waved him off. "Shhh, bunny, shhhh."

Jay blinked, eyes widening. "Just...get my fucking bed. And I want all of my Alice skulls. All of them," he said stubbornly. He didn't even bother explaining to anyone about the skulls, because he knew March would probably have problems with it, and it nagged at him for some reason.

"Oh...and tell Alex he's a fucking liar," he spat bitterly, snarling slightly, then looking away.

Meanwhile, in Jericko's Wonderland, Alex and Julus stood waiting in the forest just outside of Heart Castle.

"You're sure this is where she's coming through?" Julus said lazily, leaning against a tree.

Alex nodded, leaning against one next to his with his arms crossed and eyes fixed on a place in front of him. "Indeed. It'll be nice to meet her face to face."

Hatta nodded, "I'll just get everything."

White started to push her towards a swirling Rabbit Hole portal. "You have to go NOW!"

"Ok, ok! By kids!" she shouted and was shoved through the portal. When she turned around she was staring at black haired, green eyes twins.  
A "swooshing" sound from behind her signaled the portals closing.

"Hullo~" she smiled and waved at them. "I'm the Hatta."

The twins blinked at her, pushing away from their trees and looking up at her.

"Whoa," Julus said, craning his neck to look at her face. "You're tall."

Alex chuckled and jabbed his brother in the ribs, and both gave her small bows. "Welcome to our Wonderland," Alex said sweetly.

"Yeah, even if I'm not psyched about the reason," Julus grumbled.

They both gestured to Heart Castle and motioned for her to follow them. "We had you meet us right in front of Heart Castle, since I assumed this would be a rather quick affair. Of course, you're welcome to come back any time, not just for business," the Caterpillar said.

Julus nodded. "Can't wait to get that bastard's stuff out of the castle. I would've destroyed it, but Alex wouldn't let me. So I've just banned the residents of the castle from entering his section of the castle. I should warn you..."

"Some of the things you'll see in Jericko's quarters aren't very pleasant," Alex finished softly.

"Well, he told me all he wanted was his 'Alice skulls' and his bed. But I'll just pack up everything," Hatta said. She was taking every effort not to pinch these twin's cheeks. They were adorable.

Instead she happily followed them to the castle.

"So, how do two kids like you become such powerful rulers?" she asked.

Alex and Julus looked at each other and smiled. "It's a long story," Alex said warmly.

"But shortened," Julus continued. "Our King of Hearts was an evil bastard, and he had to be stopped. Our father..." The new King stopped, eyes getting a little sad.

His Twin simply picked up where he left off. "Died while fighting for Wonderland's freedom. Leaving us to take over. My husband also helped, and he's actually coming back today after visiting some of the more distant parts of his lands, so you might even meet him," Alex said happily. "Oh, and I know we didn't introduce ourselves. I'm Alex, the Caterpillar, and that's Julus, King of Hearts."

"Yeah, just remember which one has the piercings, and you'll know its me," Julus said, smirking.

A deep chuckling could be heard from right above Julus. "I couldn't mistake one for the other no matter what," the voice purred, and the form of the Cheshire Cat became visible as he floated down in front of the group, his smile wide and white.

The Cat kissed Julus on the forehead, earning a blush from the young Noble, before his cat ears and amethyst eyes went to Hatta. He immediately took her hand and gave her his signature grin, bowing slightly. "Greetings, Ms. Hatta. I'm the Cheshire Cat. Call me Ches," he purred.

Hatta smiled brightly at the interactions between the young King of Hearts. "Please, call me Hatta," she replied.

By then they were inside the castle.

"So, show me to Jayjay's lair of evil."

Alex stepped back and let Julus take the lead. The pierced noirette simply took them down a darker corridor, everyone falling a little silent as they came to a door with a polite sign sitting in front of it which said: ENTRY FORBIDDEN BY AUTHORITY OF THE KING OF HEARTS. THANK YOU.

Julus's eyes flashed red. "Thank you. You may go back to the bar," he said to the sign, which proceeded to float, the lettering changing to: YOUR MAGESTY.

Then it was gone, and a hall lit with purple lamps on the walls was revealed by the slowly creaking open doors. "The Jabberwocky's Lair is a dwelling unto it's own. Jericko was given full manipulation of the space provided, therefore the decor is much different than the rest of the castle," Alex murmured to Hatta.

They began to walk inward, and it was seen that the walls were all painted solid black, a set of stairs leading down a good twenty feet opening up to what looked like it could've been a grand ballroom, decorated the same way. There was nothing in in the room but several chains attached to the walls in dark corners. Their cuffs were thankfully empty, but the stains on them told they had been put to generous use.

Alex was seeing all of this for the first time outside of Jericko's mind, but Julus's expression said he clearly remembered time he had spent there.

"What a cute little sign..."Hatta blinked as they went in.

"Well then. I'm think I'll start in Jay's room. If you'd be so kind as to lead me there...?" She asked. She wasn't really bothered by what she saw. She'd prepared herself a head of time.

Julus nodded. "Of course..." he muttered, beginning towards the door at the other end of the ballroom.

Alex suddenly put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. "Devin should be arriving in Caterpillar Castle soon. You should go meet him for me, and have him meet me upstairs. I can continue this. Ches," he prompted, pushing Julus towards his lover. Both promptly disappeared from sight, leaving Alex alone with Hatta.

"I apologize, but Julus still has a lot of issues involving Jericko and Antoine. Anyway, this is the hallway to Jericko's room," the noirette continued, pushing open the black wooden doors.

The hallway was just like the first, but with no stairs...and on the walls were huge, life sized paintings of intricate and painful looking torture devices. At the moment, all were empty. "These are enchanted," Alex explained, eyeing a particularly nasty looking sex trap. "Jericko trapped people in rooms behind them, and put them on the devices. The victim appeared in the painting."

It seemed like he couldn't stand to look at the paintings, and he closed his eyes for a moment, continuing on. A doorway opened up to where Jericko slept. Inside the room was almost as large as the ballroom, a large dark wooded, black velvet covered bed against the far wall and several shelves full of things from torture devices to sex toys to very old looking books. On the walls, which were high as a cathedral, there were alcoves, each only a foot high and six inches wide. Inside the alcoves were the skulls of all the previous Alices.

Hatta nodded.

She took off her hat and reached inside, her arm going much deeper than the hat should have allowed. She withdrew her arm and in her hand was a flattened box. She threw it to the floor and it instantly fixed itself into a box shape.

With a single wave of her hand everything inside Jay's room came off the walls and floors, shrunk down to extremely small sizes, and stacked themselves neatly into the box.

"Well, I have it from here. This shouldn't take too long. I think your brother might need some support right now," Hatta said, and smiled at Alex. From her pocket she pulled out a small baggie of chocolate chip cookies and held them out to Alex. "Share these with him, and he'll feel better," she assured him.

Alex smiled warmly at the cookies, then nodded at Hatta. "Thank you," he said sincerely, turning as if he was going to leave, then suddenly pulling one of the books on the shelf down slightly. The shelf it was on moved aside, and yet another dark corridor was reveled. "Jericko's workshop is in here. Anything he made that he liked too much to burn or stain with blood is in here. I'll see you upstairs."

Once he was outside of the doorway, he teleported back into Heart Castle, into the large standing area in front of the ballrooms. Waiting there were Julus and Devin, the Cheshire missing, and after a brief mind reading of the room's occupants, Alex found that the Cat had other business to attend to, but hadn't left until Devin arrived.

Devin obviously felt Alex's mental touch, and his sky blue eyes turned immediately to the Caterpillar, warming instantly.

The blush on the younger King's face was automatic, and it only caused a chuckle from his blond lover. "Don't just stand there. Come here," Devin called, gesturing with a finger. "Unless you didn't miss me as much as I missed you."

Alex grinned and appeared at Devin's side, and was immediately pulled close. "It's only been two days," the noirette murmured. "But I did miss you."

A gagging noise could be heard, and both looked at Julus who was pretending to throw up a few feet away. "God it's so sweet it's giving me a damn toothache," the pierced King said sarcastically.

Meanwhile, Hatta had set up a boombox and hooked her phone up to it.  
She brought up her music and blasted it as loudly as possible.

Hatta liked her playlist. It had everything from rock, pop, smooth jazz, Latin chanting music, and much, much more, and she never skipped a single song (well, except when Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas came on. Then she made wounded animal noises and skipped it).

Soon she had the kinky wall paintings shrunk and packed away, and was moving through the rest of the wing. She was saving Jay's personal section for after lunch.

She wondered it Alex and Julus liked her cookies.

Which they had. One bite of those cookies, and it seemed like all problems melted away. They were just that good. The three Nobles had a nice conversation, and when it was close to lunch time, Alex excused himself to go fetch Hatta.

He teleported to where Hatta was, not wanting to walk through the rest of Jay's chambers. "Hey, Hatta. It's getting close to lunch time, so I thought you might be getting hungry," he said, smiling at her and avoiding looking at the rest of the room. "The castle cooks are really excited to have a foreigner here, and they prepared some of our best food for you."

Hatta looked up and when she saw Alex she ran over and paused her music. "Huh, sorry, it was Girumesh and I was jammin. Something about food?" She asked.

Alex chuckled. "Yeah, it's lunchtime. Everyone's eager to meet you, and the cooks are excited to see what you think of Wonderland food. Let's go on up," he prompted, and brought Hatta upstairs. He lead her into the dining room, where all of the Wonderland Nobles were seated. Julus was at the head of table, since it was Heart Castle.

Alex pulled out a chair for Hatta on Julus's left, and then stood behind the chair on Julus's left, next to Devin. "Everyone, This is Hatta. She's visitng us from the Wonderland we sent Jericko to. Hatta, this is Devin James, my husband and our resident Alice. In order around the table, the next is Ches, whom you've met, March Hare, Kagamine Hatter, Peter White, and The Tweedle Twins, Dee and Dum," he introduced, gesturing to each as he spoke.

Everyone gave a polite nod, except the Twins, who both waved excitedly.

Hatta did her usual wave. "Hullo~ I'm the Hatta. Not the Hatter. That's my younger, taller brother. It's nice to meet you all~!" she greeted with enthusiasm. She waved at the twins energetically. If they were anything like her twins, then they'd get a long just fine.

The Hatter reminded her of her brother. Obviously a gentlemen, but an entirely different color scheme. She could also tell he was a sword fighter, as he had all the same developed muscles as her and when he removed his gloves, he had many the same scars and callouses where she had scars and callouses.  
And he was in cahoots with that Hare, she could tell by the lovey dovey looks they kept giving each other. She'd be willing to put money on that if no one else was here, they'd be doin' it on the table right now. Their March Hare also looked a lot kinder.

The White Rabbit looked much the same as her Wonderland's, and the Cheshire looked a lot more dominant than her (more her brother's, really) Cheshire Cat.

"You got any females in this noble circle?" she asked. She was the only chic in the room, and she was wondering why,

"Unfortunately, no," Alex said, chuckling and sitting.

"There's used to be several," Kagamine said, smiling a little. "Our mothers. However, most of our parents were victims of the King's reign, and all female Nobles were taken. For some reason, our parents were prone to having male sons."

March gave her a sweet smile. "And it seems most of us at the table now don't have much of a taste for female partners, or they would be here. Speaking which, Peter, where's Rebekah?" the Hare questioned.

The Rabbit blushed slightly. "She should be here soon. Her idea of on time is five minutes-"

Then the door burst open, Rebekah entering and looking a little winded. "Late! Sorry I'm late. I got held up with some random soldier with a knee problem!" she exclaimed, sliding over to White's side and taking an empty seat next to him. When she noticed Hatta, she grinned and flashed a peace sign.

Alex could only shake his head and smile while White facepalmed himself. "Hatta, meet the Capitan of my Black and White Army: Rebakah Darcy. She's also White's fiancé."

Hatta nodded and grinned at Rebekah. She was hot and taken. Dammit.

"Did he take an arrow to his knee?" Hatta asked, but before she got an answer, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She saw the Tweedle Twins trying to discreetly put a farting machine in Peter's back pocket. Hatta looked away as to not give them away, and focused on the food that was now being carried out.

"Oooooo, what's for lunch~?" she asked.

White's younger sister, LoveHeart, entered with the chefs and gave everyone a sweet curtsy. "Today's lunch menu is roasted Grislhelm shark, and roasted Bovinian meat for those without a taste for seafood. Our side dishes are sautéed potatoes, pink lettuce salads from Caterpillar Country, and a fruit salad," she announced.

Her smile at Hatta was bright and white. "Our chefs really hope to make an impression on someone from a foreign realm."

All of the Nobles smiled as she dismissed herself, and Alex gestured to where she left. "That was White's younger sister. She's from a Noble family obviously, but she enjoys working here."

Hatta thought she was adorable.

Soon the food was being brought around and she had a little of everything on her plate. "Oh my gosh how am I supposed to get back to work after this. I'm going to sleep for a million hours before this properly digests," she said, but one everyone was settled they all started eating.

The food was amazing, and weird. She quite liked all of it. She'd have to ask for recipes.

Once everyone was settled in their eating, she looked at their Hatter. "So, Mr. Hatter, what type of swords do you usually like to use?" she asked. She completely forgot that no one had told her he was a sword fighter.

The Hatter froze with his fork halfway to his mouth, gold eyes centering on Hatta before he lowered the utensil and dabbed at his mouth. He was curious as to how exactly Hatta had known he was a sword user, but it didn't bother him much because he was so used to Alex and his father before him. "A slightly French influenced dueling sword. My Weapon, Lucifer, prefers that form as well."

His eyes went to her hands, and lit with understanding. It was calloused and scared. "And you?"

Hatta smiled. "The Vorpal Blade. It's a long sword I forged some millenniums ago and I love it dearly. But I use rapiers and dueling swords almost as often," she replied, and took another bite of her food. The Hatter obviously didn't forge his own weapons; he lacked the burns she had on her own hands right a long with the callouses and scars.

The Twins automatically perked up. "You forge!?" they squeeled, practically squirming in their seats.

Everyone at the able had to smile at their enthusiasm.

"So do we!" they said.

Julus nodded. "They create all of our Weapons. With a capital "W". Of course, they can forge normal weapons as well, but our magical ones are much harder and more impressive to complete.

Hatta nodded at the twins. "I have ever since I was little. My dad taught me. I make mostly swords, but I'll do any sort of weapon, magical charms, jewelry, crowns, etc. I also breed tea plants, bake, cook, and raise two eight years old, who also happen to be our Tweedle Twins," she replied. Watching the twin's faces was priceless. She knew they'd be getting a long just fine.

Everyone enjoyed the lunch conversation a lot, it seemed that Hatta had an endless supply of enthusiasm, and the Twins, as well as Alex and Julus, matched it. It didn't take long for everyone to mentally agree that they loved Hatta. When the meal was finished with, Alex stood and gestured to everyone at the table.

"Now that everyone's gotten to know Hatta, you may all go back to your daily tasks," he said.

Kagamine and March stood and the white haired man tipped his hat at the redhead. "A pleasure meeting you. Feel free to stop by Hatter Mansion for a duel," he said, March saying his goodbyes before they both left.

White and Rebekah were next, and even as White left, Rebekah stuck her head back in the room, winking at Hatta. "Come to the training grounds sometime, we could have a blast!"

Julus and Ches had to leave to attend to castle matters, leaving Devin and Alex.

But Alex soon rubbed his neck and sighed. "I have a few things to take care of in Caterpillar Country. Devin, I'll be back later, do you think you could give Hatta a Wonderland tour when I get back, and take care of her for now?" he asked softly.

The blond pet Alex's hair and nodded. "Sure thing. Go on, I've got things here."

When Alex left it was just Devin and Hatta.

"I still gotta finish packing up Jayjay's room. You wanna keep me company? Most the gross stuff is gone," she asked.

All that was left was Jay's personal room and the library.

Devin smiled, nodding and following her down to Jay's room, which had no effect on him, surprisingly.

"So...exactly how's the bastard doing in your world? I hope he's having a hard time," the blond said idly, eyes taking on a steely tone.

"Actually, he's doing just fine. He's moved in with our March and I'm pretty sure they're having a _lot_ of sex. He's still a super angry baby, though. March made him go shopping with him yesterday because Jay needed things. OH! Jay's a skilled woodcarver, so March bought him wood and carving tools and stuff. But don't worry, I gave Jay these wrist band thingies that shock him when he breaks stuff. Well, used to, apparently he could hardly move without getting shocked so now they're on Manual Mode and don't shock him unless we want them to," she said these things while shrinking whole book shelves and putting them in her box.

"Those wristbands are probably the only reason he hasn't murdered anyone there then," Devin said, watching her pack things.

He actually found it very interesting that she was able to do such things, but the reason she was doing it, and with whose stuff it was, was what was really getting to him. Devin didn't think the dragon deserved any if his old things.

"Probably," she agreed, "Hopefully he'll shape up and then he can get his own house and freedom. His citizenship to Wonderland is pending on it."

Hatta went over to the shelf that was blocking Jay's personal area and shrunk and packed it up, leaving the doorway open. "Wanna come in with me?" she asked.

The blond nodded, following her in. He was surprised by Jericko's ability to even think of the secret passage, never having known the dragon had any sort of intellect. What he saw inside actually made his jaw drop.

The workspace was actually lit much more than any other part of Jay's chambers, bright enough to work. Even this lighter atmosphere wasn't what was making Devin stare. It was the works that were stored in there. There were lifelike carved statues, only three people. One was a small girl, in an old fashioned late 1800s earth dress, the second was Alex, in his Heart Army jacket, with his sword tip down in front of him. The amount of emotion expressed in the two's faces was almost surreal it was so life like.

The final statue was of Teraclese. Devin wouldn't even know this if he hadn't done his research. The King of Hearts had a stone cold look to his face, and his spiked armor made him all the more intimidating.

Looking around, there were several other carvings, from pillars with intricate detail, to tables, to nature, to even small animals.

"I...didn't know he was capable of something like this," Devin muttered.

Hatta nodded. "People will surprise you sometimes. Even stone cold ass holes develop emotions over time," she said, and with the utmost care, shrunk and placed the items into her now completely full box

"Well, I'm done. So here's the question; stay and get a tour, beat Kaga at sword fighting, teach your kitchen my cookie recipe or go now," she mused.

Devin smiled and shook is head. "No need to go now. Everyone here enjoys your company. So now the question is which of those you want to do most," he said, and waited for her to get rid of the box before leading her back up and out of Jericko's lair.

Hatta smiled and replied, "Gimme a tour and we'll do these things a long it."

She followed Devin out of the room.

"Well, since the kitchen is closest, why don't we stop by there? The Heart Castle chefs will share it with all of our cooks. From there, we'll teleport to Caterpillar Castle, since that's the only castle I have a direct link with, and we'll work our way back here," Devin explained as he lead her through the white, red, and gold halls of Heart Castle.

Despite the fact that it wasn't too different from when Antoine reigned in it, the whole building seemed somehow more alive, and much more kind. There was an air of happiness around everyone there, and all of the servants and workers nodded or bowed kindly to Devin and Hatta.

It was on their way to the kitchen that they ran into Kai, Knight of hearts. The small, Asian looking man blinked at them out of large, emerald colored eyes. "There you are, sir!" he said saluting.

Devin returned it, then chuckled. "At ease. I told you to stop being so formal. What do you need?"

Kai grinned and scratched his head, looking at Hatta and giving her a sweet smile. "It's hard to drop old habits. Capitan Rebekah sent me to get Lady Hatta to 'play.'"

Hatta looked at Kai and pinched his cheeks. "Oh my sweet Mary, you're so _cute_~! Take me to your leader, you adorable thing you," she said, petting Kai.

Kai's eyes nearly popped out of his head, while all Devin did was laugh quietly. When Hatta was done pinching his cheeks, Kai pushed away from her and straightened his armor, blushing a bright red color. However, he quickly covered up his embarrassment and winked at the redhead, smirking.

"Now, now. I may look cute, but I'm a deadly weapon I tell you!" he insisted, wagging a finger at her. "After all, who could attack _this_!"

He then proceeded to make a puppy dog face that even Devin would have found hard to hurt. Then he just laughed. "Kidding. I don't play on the cute thing much. Come this way, my Lady," he said, gesturing for them to follow.

Devin could only roll his eyes. He'd gotten used to the little sarcastic firecracker from visiting over the few weeks Jay was in the dungeon in Heart Castle.

Hatta followed the cutie-pie. "Don't call me "my lady". Just call me Hatta!" she insisted.

Kai led them outside to a big spacious courtyard that looked like a training ground,

"Think fast pipsqueak!" Rebekah's voice shouted from a few feet away.

Kai's attention jerked in that direction, and she was on him before he could blink, a fist flying at his face. But he blocked it, dodged the next one, and blocked the kick that came after that. They went on like that for a good few seconds, both throwing punches and kicks but neither ever really landing anything.

It stopped when the Capitan suddenly had her elbow at Kai's throat, her other hand flat on his stomach. "Not bad. Better than last time, in fact, you almost had me short stuff," she said, laughing like she was having the best time in the world and standing up straight, ruffling Kai's hair.

The smaller man pouted, only succeeding in making himself look adorable. "You need to quit that," he mumbled. "Hand to hand isn't my thing anyway."

Devin chuckled. "Never know when you might be disarmed though."

"'Ay, gurl, 'ay. I was requested to come her, so what's the haps?" Hatta asked. She went over and pinched Kai's cheeks while she talked to Rebekah.

The Capitan giggled and shrugged. "Welp, I wanted to have a little match with you~! And my boys wanted to meet you, too. The adorable one you came here with was Kai, my Knight of Hearts. Well, he _used_ to be. Since I've been in the Black and White Army, Peter's taken over here."

She let off a loud whistle, and a few men that were training in a large group broke away from it, making their way over to them. "This is Preston, Knight of Clubs; Derek, Knight of Spades; and Christian, Knight of Diamonds," she introduced, pointing to each.

Hatta waved at each of them in turn. "Ya'll so cute~!" she turned to Rebekah.

"So wacha want? Hand to hand? Preferred weapon? Dance Dance Revolution?" she asked.

"Dance Dance wha...?" Rebekah repeated, tilting her head.

Devin blinked, laughing and grinning. "I could take you in Dance Dance Revolution!" he said, still chuckling. "You wouldn't understand Bekah."

The brunette humphed and shrugged. "Whatever. You'll have to teach it to me one day. Let's do hand to hand, since I'm pretty sure your preferred weapon would whoop my ass," she insisted, taking her glasses off.

Before anything else, Hatta turned around and grabbed Devin by the shoulders and said, "You need to bring video games to this world. You are doing them all a huge injustice by them not being able to play Assassin's Creed and Kingdom Hearts. Think about your priorities. _Think about them_."

With that she took off her hat, put it on Kai's head, and handed him her trench coat.

She then moved to the center of the field with Rebekah. "Magic or no magic? We need a ref," she asked.

"I'm not a big magic user," Rebekah answered. "So if you could keep it to a minimum. But feel free if you feel like you REALLY need to use it."

Devin scoffed. "I'll be the ref. How about good old fashioned tournament point style. First to three points wins, and you get a point by landing a hit on the other person."

It earned a nod from both women, and so Devin just made sure there was no one too close, and raised a hand. "Ready...GO!"

Just seeing that Rebekah was fighting would've drawn a crowd, but when they heard there was a foreign equivalent to their Nobles dueling her, it drew a huge crowd of all of the soldiers, plus a few random Castle passersby.

Hatta charged towards Rebekah, and while the army captain prepared herself for a front attack, Hatta launched herself off the ground with blinding speed and twirled around to strike at Rebekah's back with her palm. This sent the captain forward and effectively knocked the wind from her lungs.

Hatta jumped back and waited for Rebekah to regain her breathe. She was smiling.

While Rebekah gasped for her breathe, eyes wide and absolutely shocked, it seemed like the crowd was doing the same. No one had ever seen Rebekah get taken off guard like that that quickly before, except with one of the time warping Caterpillar twins. Even Devin was a little shocked, and it was a second before he realized he had to call that.

"Uh...Point: Hatta. Score is 1-0," he announced.

Rebekah seemed to regain her sense pretty quickly after hearing that, and straightened, turning around and this time coming at Hatta. Though she had just been taken off guard, she didn't seem to be letting it affect her, she was still calm. She ducked off to the side just before she would've com into contact with Hatta, and when the redhead turned to block that, the Capitan dropped to the ground, sweeping Hatta's legs out from under her.

But she realized not a second after she did that, that it was much too easy.

Hatta fell forward onto one of her hands and did a complicated lower body twist where her legs swung around, grabbed Rebekah's upper body with them, and threw the brunette across the field. With just her legs. As Rebekah went flying, the momentum brought Hatta back to her feet all in one, easy motion.

She once again waited for Rebekah to stand up and regain her breathe.

"Damn," Kai breathed, staring intensely, his mouth halfway open. Most of the rest of the soldiers mouths resembled fish, the way they were open and closing over and over.

After twisting in the air and catching herself, Rebekah skidded to a stop and just stared at Hatta for a moment. "Well...this is much harder than I expected," she said almost jokingly, all the while her eyes were looking the redhead up and down, trying to find a weakness or a blind spot, or even a little movement that would give away a place she could strike on Hatta.

But there weren't any, and that was what was disturbing her.

She gave it one last try, rushing at Hatta and almost copying the first thing Hatta had done to her, jumping over the Zion and twisting in air to land behind her. But instead of striking, she grasped Hatta's shoulders just before she landed and used the momentum to slide right under Hatta's legs and back in front of her, driving her elbow backwards and into the taller woman's solar plexus.

Hatta just kept smiling.

As the elbow came for her, her hand shot out and stopped the elbow before it landed it's hit. She gripped Rebekah's arm and used her other hand push her back and drive the younger women into the ground with a loud "WHUMP!"

"I'm glad you took off your glasses, or they'd be broken right now," Hatta said sweetly, and let go of Rebekah to back away as the captain picked herself up of of the ground, dirt coating half her face.

As the brunette did so, the soldiers immediately took step back, waiting for some kind of evil Capitan wrath to befall Hatta when Devin declared the Zion the winner. Instead, once the dirt was all gone, Rebekah grinned and laughed, putting her glasses back on.

"That. Was. Awesome!" she insisted, going to grab Hatta's hand and shake it.

"Seriously you've got to teach me how to do some of that! I'd love to see you fight Ches, that would be freakin' great! Nice moves you have there," she said enthusiastically.

Hatta grinned goofily and shook Rebekah's hand right back.

"Thanks~ I've had a long time to learn, so it might be some years before you're up to my snuff!" she exclaimed.

With the promise to show Rebekah some moves one day, Devin and Hatta where off once more.

"Where to, kingy-wingy?" she asked sweetly.

"Well," Devin began, still a little in shock from watching Hatta and Rebekah. "We could either go show some chef's how to bake, or head to Caterpillar Castle. That would be across Wonderland, in Caterpillar Country. Alex and I live there, but lately I've been off in Sanctuarum."

"FFF, Caterpillar castle. I'll teach chefs how to bake another day. I wanna see the world~" she chimed then added, "Later I want to have a duel with the Hatter here, though."

The king smiled and nodded. "C'mere then," he said, slipping an arm around Hattas waist and taking a pendant he had been hiding in his shirt out.

Very quietly, he whispered into it, and it shifted and swirled in green and blue before the colors engulfed them both and they were warped onto the front step of the magnificent crystalline Caterpillar Castle. "Sorry, physical contact needed for more than one. I can't do the warping thing, Alex had to make this for me. Anyway, this is our home."

"And Welcome back," Alex purred leaning against the doorway.

It made Devin jump a little bit before he relaxed and smiled. "You're starting to act more like Julus. It's creepy, you should stop it."

Alex laughed and walked over to them. "Occupational hazard."

But Hatta was just standing there, gaping at the castle.

"Is so SHINY. We don't have buildings like this in my Wonderland. Well, we used to. Like, ten thousand years ago. But that was when I was little and I don't remember much. BUT LOOKIT HOW SHINY THIS BUILDING IS," she exclaimed while flailing.

Alex and Devin chuckled, Devin winding his arm around Alex's waist. "Caterpillar Castle has been standing close to 50,000 years. It's made from crystals from the Ferjikian city at the bottom of Solidad Lake. The crystals were gifted to us after we made an alliance with the King of the Ferjikians," Alex explained. "We have the castle walls professionally cleaned every few days, since there's a special solution that makes it shine and keeps it from wearing away."

Both of the Kings had studied a lot while in Wonderland, during their time apart and during the few weeks they had been back together. It seemed like Devin still didn't want to let Alex out of is sight for too long, and to a skilled observer, it was easy to see that he kept touching the noirette like he couldn't believe he was there.

A skilled observer like Hatta.

She could imagine the hell those two and this entire Wonderland has gone through in the past year a lone. She felt sorry for them, for it seemed that every Wonderland had to go through hell with Hearts. It would take a long time for this world to get back to its original glory.

"So, who wants to make cookies with me?"

Alex perked up. "I do I do!" he insisted, green eyes sparkling.

Devin chuckled. "Alex has a weakness for cookies."

"You don't understand! Hatta's cookies are _amazing_! Like, even you would get hooked on them, and I know you're not much one for sweets. We have to prove to him the greatness of your cooking, okay Hatta!?" the noirette insisted, and poofed them all to the kitchen, where the staff all turned to look at them.

Hatta laughed at Alex's excitement.

She clapped her hands together and a piece of paper appeared in it. She handed it to a cook. "I need you to find me the nearest thing you have to each of those ingredients. Imma teach ya'll how to make a proper cookie," she said.

Everyone was sort of frozen in shock.

"...Well, get to it!" she shouted, and everyone snapped out of their stupor and began bustling around.

Hatta smiled.

Alex watched everything with excited eyes, practically buzzing with pent up, child-like energy as he watched the cooks dash from place to place finding Hatta's ingredients. It caused Devin to watch him closely, a small smile on his face. He hadn't seen Alex this excited for a very long time, and even when he had, it had been back before they were together. Most especially since they had been in Wonderland, Alex had been much more serious as he tried to take on the role on a King.

Obviously reading Devin's mind, Alex turned to him and gave him a happy smile. "They'll be good for this Wonderland," he said, referring to Hatta and the other Zions.

The blond nodded, and noticed all of the ingredients were gathered, with the chefs watching Hatta expectantly. "Well!" Devin said, setting a hand on Hatta's shoulder. "What can we do to help?"

Hatta turned to them.

"For starters, ya'll need to get rid of those fancy robes of yours. They have no place in a kitchen. Put on something you won't mind messing up," she said.

As Devin and Alex changed, Hatta whipped off her trench coat and top hat and set to work.

They all started mixing the ingredients according to her recipe and soon had enough mix for over fifty dozen cookie.

"Aight, everybody grab some pans, and start making little balls of cookie dough."

Everyone got to work almost immediately, Devin and Alex being paired up with their own giant bowls of dough and looking extremely sweet making cookies together. Alex also had a spoon with extra cookie dough on it stuck in his mouth while he worked. When he was done, he removed it and pointed it high.

"Done!" he declared adorably, looking extremely happy.

Devin smirked and rolled his eyes, which then zeroed in on Alex's mouth. "Alex...you have cookie dough on your face," he said in an amused tone.

"Huh? Where?" Alex said, rubbing his cheek on the opposite side of his face.

"Other side," his amused husband said.

The shorter King did as he was told, but still missed it completely, causing Devin to snicker. "Here...lemme get it for you," he purred, grasping Alex's face and bending so that he could lick the dough from the corner of the noirette's mouth.

Hatta looked at them. "Hey! No PDA in the kitchen! You'll get stuff in the dough!" She shouted, rolling balls of it in her hands. She still smiled, though. She considered Alex and Devin far too young to be kings. They needed more time to develop their relationship.

She was a whole two pans ahead of everyone else in the kitchen and had started getting cooks set about the task of baking the cookies. The first batch was already in the ovens, and its smell was beginning to waft around the room.

Alex blushed heavily, pushing Devin away and getting extremely concentrated on making balls of cookie dough. Devin could only roll his eyes and chuckle, doing the same. They kept on glancing at each other, and it seemed like before long, they were in a race to see who could get more cookie dough balls done.

Both of them finished most of the rest of the pans by themselves, laughing hysterically by the end of it because they ended up messing around and trying to get the other to mess up.

Soon enough the kitchen was a flurry; half the kitchen trying to stay ahead of the mess and the other half baking the cookies. Soon enough they had almost every cookie baked save a few pans.

Hatta had forbade anyone from having even a single cookie until all the cookies were done and could be enjoyed at the same time.

She also had a glass of what appeared to be milk (it tasted the same but was a light pink color) poured to every person so their cookies could be enjoyed properly.

When the last pans were done, Alex and Devin removed them and sat the with the rest, then grabbed their own glasses of pink milk. Alex was practically squirming in his skin.

Hatta handed each person a cookie.

"_Now_ you can have your cookie. Enjoy~"

She munched her cookie and patiently waited for reactions.

Everyone almost simultaneously bit into their cookies, having gotten tempted and tortured by their delicious smell for so long. Immediately the mood of the room seemed to lighten, and just about everyone was smiling, nodding their heads, or complimenting Hatta. Alex looked like he was in absolute heaven eating his, and didn't even care that he smeared chocolate on his face.

Even Devin, who wasn't a sweets kind of person, was smiling and nodding to the redhead. "These are great."

"thank you, I know. I am the god of kitchens. I'm going to leave most of these cookies here and my recipe, but I warn you: deviate even a little from it, and they'll taste like shit. Now, I think I'll take a basket to Mr. Hatter." Hatta said.

She pulled a decorative basket and filled it up with a few dozen cookies and sealed it off. "yo, Devins, take me to the Hatter. I need to duel him" she said.

Devin smiled slightly. "I can't do that by myself. Told you, I can't teleport," he reminded her.

Not two seconds later, he had a hand on Hatta's shoulder and one on Alex's, and Alex's eyes flashed for a moment. The world around them warped for a second before all three of them appeared in the Hatter's dining area, where he and March were sitting and having tea.

Alex chuckled. "What, the clearing isn't good enough anymore?"

Kagamine Hatter smiled in reply and tipped his hat to them, and the Hare waved sweetly. "Well, we thought it might be nice inside for once. What is it you have there?" the white haired man questioned, gesturing to Hatta's basket.

Hatta raised her arm and tossed the Hatter the basket. "Cookies. Go ahead and have one. Or five."

She leaned forward. "What kind of tea is that? Smells good," she commented.

Kagamine caught the basket and blinked down at it. "Cookies, hm?" he questioned, opening it and pulling them out. He handed one to March began eating one or two himself, and the Hare smiled softly at Hatta.

"Mine is a mix of chamomile and ginger, and I also add a tad of honey. Kagamine's has chamomile...and a small touch of a few herbs I grow especially for his...hum...tastes, shall we say?" he explained, delicately breaking his cookie in half and nibbling on it.

Alex smiled at the duo, obviously happy they were getting along well. "How have you two been? It's been a few days since I could come and see you. Any change in business revenue, Kagamine? And how's rebuilding in Dragstead in Hare country?"

Kagamine chuckled. "Business is fine. Booming, honestly. Everyone is so happy the King is gone, and they feel much safer going out now. These are delicious by the way, Hatta," the white haired man commented, smiling at her.

Not missing a beat, the Hare grinned as well and nodded. "Delicious. The best I've ever had. Also, Alex, the rebuilding is coming along quite well. They've been rebuilding for years, but now that the King is gone, it's sped up quite a bit."

"Ya'll have cities here? In my home we sorta have this jumbled mess of population. But it's broken up into sectors of each Zion," she said.

Point three for Hatta's cookies. Just wait 'til they got a taste of the rest of her baking.

All three stared at her for a moment, before Kagamine nodded. "Indeed. There are only about three in each of our designated areas though, and then some random housing here and there in the countryside. Except for here, Tugley Wood. All of our Nobles, save Alex, Devin, and Julus, live here. It was declared unsafe for civilians a few thousand years ago, due to the wild life and secluded nature of the area."

Alex laughed some. "We encountered some of those our first few seconds in Wonderland. Blood lilies. They tried to eat Devin alive. And seriously, I didn't think there were any cities in Wonderland until I was stuck in Heart Castle."

Hatta shrugged.

"Cool. Our Tulgey Woods, the Mushroom Grove, and Checkerboard Forest are the only unpopulated areas. My brother tries very heard to keep people out of the Tulgey Woods so it doesn't get populated and destroyed. We havn't told anyone our Jabberwocky is dead, even though he's been gone for two thousand years," she grinned.

The Jabberwocky's death was probably the biggest government secret of her world.

"Yes," the Hatter said, looking pointedly at Alex, who returned his look with one of unwavering sternness. "Jabberwockies are best dead." The Hatter's eyes reflected sickly yellow for a moment before returning to cold gold.

The Hatter family had the worst relationship with Jericko of the Nobles, other than Devin. Kagamine's opinion of Jericko was so low that, given the chance, the dragon would've been tortured to death rather than banished.

Awkward silence.

‟So how about that duel?‟

Immediately Kagamine's mood lightened, and he cleared his throat setting down his tea. "Of course! I heard you bested Rebekah earlier today in hand to hand. Truly remarkable! Please, follow me to the training area," he insisted, standing.

"Ah, Kaga, you should finish your tea," March said in a concerned tone.

"No, no. There is no time to waste. I should be fine," the man said flippantly, waving March off and patting him on the head.

The smaller man bit his lip slightly, but nodded and got up to follow.

Hatta followed them out onto a large clearing behind Hatter Mansion.

"Nice training area ya got here," she commented.

She saw Hatter remove his overcoat and top hot and waited for the Weapon transformation. It seemed interesting.

Kagamine smiled, an almost sensual turning up of the lips, and tossed the top hat in the air. "Burn, Lucifer," he said, watching Hatta as the hat burst into flames, spinning, and when it fell, Kagamine caught his black and white multi-jeweled dueling sword. He swiped it through the air a few times, then tucked a hand behind his back and gestured to Hatta.

"Your draw, Miss Hatta," he insisted, that smile still on his face.

Hatta removed her trench coat and threw it at Devin, then removed her top hat and reached inside it. She withdrew a simple long sword, it's grip's leather stained black from years of sweat and blood.

She tossed her hat like a frisbee and it landed on Alex's head and fell over his eyes, for it was slightly too large.

She twirled the Vorpal Sword in her hand: it made the air whistle and left a multi colored after imaged of it's path.

She stood in front of the Hatter and raised her sword into a fighting position.

"First to draw blood wins, agreed?" she said.

"Agreed," he purred, not moving from his position. His eyes sharpened slightly, pupils dilating, and for just a moment, they turned a rusty yellow color before flashing back to brilliant gold.

Devin seemed a little on edge, and adjusted Hatta's trench coat on his arm. "Watch it, Kagamine. She floored Rebekah in seconds. Not minutes, seconds."

"She's older than you," Alex continued, gaze still hidden by the top hat. "Their Zions don't age either. Don't be overconfident...and I hope you know how to lose."

Kagamine chuckled. "As a matter of fact, I do not. Perhaps Miss. Hatta will teach me how."

Hatta smiled. "I hope you're a good student," she commented, before charging the Hatter.

His eyes widened slightly before their swords clashed, sparks flying from where the blades met. Hatta started down into the Hatter's gold eyes as she pushed against him, measuring his strength. She then pulled a maneuver that involved her turning left slightly, and then turning right and pushing at the same time, forcing the Hatter backwards and slightly off balance.

She didn't wait for him to catch his balance and swept the Vorpal Blade down and up at an angle, aiming for his knees.

Which were quickly gone when he jumped up and slightly to the side, sweeping his own blade towards her upper body. Of course, Hatta wasn't even there when his blade swiped, and he turned sharply to one side with shocked eyes, raising his sword just barely in time to deflect her blow and get knocked backwards, but not fall.

Devin watched in wide eyed wonder. He had barely managed to make Kagamine even change his footing, let alone even be completely thrown from his dueling stance.

Hatta didn't slow down, even for a second. She'd be behind him, then in front, then at his side, and then above him, all in an instance.  
Kagamine could just barely keep up and soon had a very wide-eyed and flustered look on his face.

Hatta charged him so hard he stumbled back, and as he caught his footing, Hatta locked their blades' hand guards and, with a flick of her wrist, sent Lucifer flying at Hatter Mansion to embed itself into the brick wall some ten meters above the ground.

She then swung the Vorpal Blade around in the palm of her hand and thrust it at Hatter's neck. But she aimed it just slightly right to only graze his neck and a single drop of blood slid down and stained his crisp white shirt collar.

She grinned. "I win."

Kagamine blinked, still slightly in shock. After a moment, he stood straight and cleared his throat. "Well...You are quite amazing Miss Hatta. Quite amazing," he murmured, glancing towards his weapon.

"Lucifer," he called, holding his hand up. The sword disconnected from the wall and flew at him, on fire. It turned to his hat in mid-air, which he caught and put securely on his head.

Not moments after he did so, March pranced his way out onto the black and white marble, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a small container. The brunette opened it and smeared some of the yellow paste inside on the small cut, which closed immediatly. March also nodded to Hatta, looking a little nervous. "You are very good, Hatta," he conceded.

Kagamine looked carefully blank faced, but March seemed to notice something off, and cupped the taller man's face between his hands, looking up at him worriedly. "Kaga? Maybe you should finish that tea now?"

The Hatter gripped the Hare's wrist, at it only took moment for March blanch when the grip became too tight and the other's eyes went murky yellow. "Screw the fuckin' tea," he growled.

Hatta's eyebrow went up as she put away her sword.

She had noticed the color changes of Kagamine's eyes and the personality cracks he just barely hinted at, but this affirmed what she had guessed at. The Hatter had a split personality, and that tea was his medicine.

"Hullo~" She waved at this different Hatter. "My name is Hatta."

The Hatter shrugged. "Ya bitch. I know."

He slapped March's hands away then, grabbing the Hare's long locks and yanking on them painfully. "And you, bitch. I'm gonna fuckin' rip ya to shreds if ya keep trying to suppress me like this."

Then Alex was there, flicking the Hatter on the temple, eyes flashing neon green. Devin caught Kagamine before he fell, and Alex handed March the cup of tea the white haired man had previously been drinking. As March poured the drink down his lover's throat, Alex cleared his and smiled sweetly at Hatta.

"Sorry about that. We're trying to fix it, but his other half is a bit hard to get rid of. Hatter madness is hereditary of course," he explained.

"S'cool. My bro was a bit cray cray for a while. I developed a tea that slowly cured his crazy. But _dayum_ they were some strange years. Everything was kinda wibbly wobbly for a while. He's cool now," Hatta said.

March was quietly watching Kagamine, a worried expression on his face. "Really...do you think we could trade materials? I have a few herbs I could grow for you in exchange..." he murmured.

Within moments, the Hatter was conscious again, and fixing his clothes. As soon as he realized what had happened, his expression was full of deep shame, and he pulled March against him, petting the other's hair softly. "I am sorry," Kagamine said softly, nodding to Hatta. "To you as well."

She nodded and held up her hand. Her top hat and coat flew to her and she put the coat back on. She reached into her top hat and retrieved a bag of dried tea leaves.

"Its very concentrated, so that should be enough for a month of tea," she tossed the bag to the Hare. She then retrieved a small packet of seeds from the hat and handed them to the Hare.  
"This is the tea plant I breed that makes that tea. It has accelerated growth and should be ready to harvest in a month. Harvest it's leaves once a month or it'll overgrow and you'll have an infestation on your hands. As for what you can trade me, give me a list of all your herbs and what they do. I'll give it to my brother and he can place an order or something. I have no interest in healing, but he's our head healer so yeah, you get the point," she smiled and pat March on the head.

She could see the strain the Hatter's split personality was on their relationship, and she felt bad for them.

March nodded, smiling sweetly at her. "No problem. I could even trade products with him, if he wished. I make actual medications in mass production."

Alex and Devin smiled, and the Caterpillar came over to Hatta. "I hope the relationship between our Wonderlands will be good in the future. We have a few more places to visit, if you would like to go."

"It was a pleasure seeing you, Miss. Hatta. I look forward to dueling you again in the future," Kagamine said.

Hatta shook Kagamine's hand and promised to come for a duel sometime, and asked March to see her off at the portal in a few hours with the herb book.

Then she left with the kings. "Where too, next?" she asked.

Alex smiled, tapping his chin with a thoughtful expression. "We have the Ferjikian lake, where another king resides, and the lands of Sanctuarum, where Devin rules. The only other major things I can think of would be Everwoe Cave, which I'm sure you have no desire to visit, and the Scar. It's a five mile long strip of dead...well, everything. Where Jericko was made," he explained.

Hatta wanted to see all these places.

"Speaking of the Wonderlands, now that we know we're sharing the same planet and each of our general locations on said planet, we should really give some sort of titles to our countries so we don't get them confused. According to our locations, it would seem my Wonderland is located near the bottom of the planet, and yours towards the north, so I suggest we can call my country Southern Wonderland, and yours Northern Wonderland," she told them.

After teleporting them to the smack middle of the Scar, Alex nodded at Hatta's suggestion. "That sounds acceptable. We couldn't keep calling them both Wonderland."

He then gestured to the dead and charred earth. One half looked to have been burned, and that was the half they were on. However, on half of the scar, things seemed to have simply withered...from cold. The ground was dead and rock hard, and it was noticeably colder on that side, some plants even actually covered in a frost even though it was not cold in this Wonderland.

"An interesting fact about Jericko...he doesn't just breathe fire, so watch out for that. He breathes frost as well. There's his fiery anger side, but he can but very cruel and cold as well," the noirette murmured.

Hatta nodded. "I know. It was in the file you all sent over. But we currently have Jay under a level of control, and he's living with one of our Zions."

She looked around for a moment. She was intrigued by the Scar and suggested some hearty plants from her Wonderland that might be able to grow over the Scar and make it pretty again and handed Alex several packets of each of these seeds.

"So was there an explosion? How exactly was he made?" she asked.

Alex crossed his arms and just looked over the land, Devin surprisingly quiet beside him, his arm around the smaller man's waist.

"The five most magically capable Nobles stood at five places, the tips of what at the time was a large summoning circle with a star in the middle. My father, Amadeus Caterpillar, the Vivaldi twins: Teraclese and Percius, Dorian Hatter, and October Tweedle. October did the summoning circle, and Percius was the conductor. Teraclese, Dorian, and my father were the power source," Alex explained, eyes flashing green.

All three seemed to be transported back in time, but really, it was just an illusion to reconstruct the situation. They could see each of the past Zions, though they were very far away, posted at their points.

"Dorian researched and planned the summoning. October chanted along with Percius at first, to help him, but once the three powers sources began pumping in that power, he dropped out to stabilize while Percius chanted and conducted."

The five Nobles became surrounded by their auras, and the wind picked up, the circle glowing a bright blood red. As more power was fed, the wind became worse, until what looked like a rainbow tornado formed in the middle of the circle. "But Percius lost focus for a brief moment. The power wavered, and Amadeus had to force it to stabilize by adding more power."

There was no sound, because this was merely an illusion, but the Nobles could be seen yelling at each other, and Amadeus, the one they were closest too, had a saddened expression as he shouted something back and seemed to push forward with his power, his entire form going neon green. The tornado imploded in on itself, fire going in one direction and a freezing cloud in the other.

The roaring, terrifying five mile dragon form of Jericko raised its head not a second later, his gigantic clawed foot coming down a few feet from where Alex, Devin, and Hatta stood.

And then the illusion ended, and they were merely standing on the blackened land again. "Instead of cleanly forming Jericko, there was indeed an explosion."

Hatta whistled. "I'm impressed. All the Nobles made it out intact, right?" she asked.

Devin shook his head. "Percius was killed. His falter drained all of his energy, and when Amadeus pushed his to finish it, the blast killed him."

"Teraclese was devastated. He took control of Jericko and became the first corrupted Heart leader in Wonderland...you already know how many wars Jericko caused. Technically speaking, Teraclese caused them, and Jericko followed the orders of his master," Alex said.

Alex smiled. "I'm glad you're willing to give him a chance."

Devin's expression said he didn't agree, but he also didn't say anything, out of respect for Alex.

When his husband popped them to the shores of the Ferjikian Lake, his expression cleared up though. The Caterpillar smiled at Hatta and walked with the redhead to the docks. "This is the Ferjikian Lake, home to the Ferjikian race and their crystal city. I told you earlier that the crystal that Caterpillar Castle is made of came from this lake."

The lake was calm and crystal clear blue, enough that it shined and reflected from the glass-like crystals and coral that lined the bottom of the water source.

Within moments of them reaching the edge of the docks, the water rippled, and a man's torso broke the surface. He had long, wavy blue hair and was covered in semi precious and precious stones, a gold and pearl inlaid crown on his head. He smiled at Alex and Devin, and sketched a bow at Hatta. "It is a pleasure to see you, my Kings, and honored guest. I received your message to meet you here. I am Fergus, king of the Crystal City," he purred in an unintentionally seductive way.

"Hullo~" Hatta did her little wave and smiled.

The Merman- wait, _Ferjikian_ king was cute, in a puppy sort of way. Hatta quite liked him.  
"Nice lake ya got here. Kinda reminds me of our Crystal Lake," she said casually. "Ya got any krackens in there?

The king chuckled and shook his head. "No, in fact I'm not even sure what those are. We have rather large fish though, used for transportation. "

"OH! They're like octopus, except their tentacles are a mile long each and their eyes are as big as a person. I have one that lives under my house," she said.

She felt a boot on her back and next thing she knew, she had fallen into the water. She surfaced and glared at Devin, spitting water out of her mouth.  
"You little turd!" she hollered, and lashed out with her magic and pulled Devin and Alex in.

The two could only laugh, and king Fergus chucked as well, swimming around the group in smooth circles. His sapphire blue tail glistened and reflected when it surfaced occasionally, and it had to make his body length a good nine feet. He was, indeed, what Earth would call a merman.

Alex looked over at him and grinned, splashing playfully. "While we're here, do you think we could see the city?"

Fergus raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Of course, your Majesty. But, according to my knowledge of normal Wonderland peoples, your friend wouldn't survive."

Laughing slightly, Alex shrugged. "Well, I'm here. And Hatta's not normal to begin with. She's a Zion, equivalent to our Nobles," he explained, then made a series of gestures towards Devin and Hatta, eyes glowing slightly when he did so. What appeared to e giant bubbles formed around their heads, as well as Alex's.

"There! Now, we can all breathe underwater," Alex said proudly.

Hatta looked at her bubble. "Or I could make an air field around my body that filters the oxygen out of surrounding water and right into the field so I can breathe without having to wear an unfashionable bubble helmet and worry about the limited amount of oxygen said helmet has," she suggested, popping her bubble and waving her hand so a soft red glimmer surrounded her and fell against her skin.

She looked no different, with only the occasional flash of red that would show up somewhere on her being that suggested there was even magic being used.

"You guys want one?"

Alex blinked and shrugged, nodded and smiling. "Sure, even though the bubble would've filtered oxygen fine." He blushed slightly and looked away. It had only been a few weeks since he had even known about his powers, so he was still getting the hang of them, and only did the first things that came to his mind.

"So where to?" Hatta asked. She was excited to see this underwater kingdom.

Alex looked away. "The Ferjikian City. We'll have to swim pretty deep, and then into a coral wall with the entrance," he mumbled.

Fergus looked surprised for a moment, but relaxed and nodded at Alex's words. "Exactly, your Majesty. Please, follow me," the tailed man purred.

As the other man dove under, Devin swam over to Alex and put an arm around his shoulders, popping Alex's bubble to kiss his cheek. "You're bubbles are wonderful, Alex. Don't pout," he purred, nuzzling Alex lovingly.

The smaller man smiled shyly and restored both of their bubbles, gesturing for Hatta to dive under the water with him as they all followed the Ferjikian king.

Hatta pursed her lips. Alex was young and untrained with an immense amount of power. Maybe she could give him a few tips with anything he didn't know about. After all, she was over eleven thousand years old with immense power herself.

She dove down with the other three kings and followed them.  
Ugh, swimming was hard. Especially for long periods of time. Too bad she didn't have a tail, or this would go by so much faster.  
Fergus was easily surpassing all of them and even had to wait ahead for them to catch up.

"Yo, Alex, what do you think of use three gettin' some tails?" she asked.

The noirette blinked and tilted his head. "Tails? I suppose I could do that," he said thoughtfully.

Fergus laughed a little and shrugged. "It would be easier on everyone here. No offense intended, but...you are all very slow," he said teasingly, his tone warm. It was rather obvious Fergus felt affection towards Alex and Devin, and honestly, he felt like he should be a kind of mentor to the young King. There were no older Nobles left in Wonderland anymore, and so he was the oldest King in Northern Wonderland now, albeit one underwater.

Alex giggled a little at Fergus's playful insult. "We can't all be born swimmers. Alright. Tails, tails, tails," he murmured, eyes under toning with neon until it grew to cover his whole eye, green, force-field looking bubbles appearing around all of the Wonderlander's legs. When it faded, Alex looked sufficiently proud. Which he should, because their tails all looked flawless and Ferjik-like. Hatta's was a lovely bright red and crimson, his green, and Devin's an ever shifting blue.

The Ferjikian King nodded in approval. "Very good. You could all pass for one of my citizens now... without the bubbles and glowing magic, of course."

Hatta looked at her tail and flipped it around in the water. She practiced swimming with her new tail and once she got the hang of it, she swam around Alex and Devin.

"Come oooon, now we can get there three times faster!" she said excitedly.

The two grinned and swam around some to get a feel for their tails as well, then fell in behind the amused Ferjikian king. After swimming for a few minutes, they came to a large wall of rock, some kind of fresh water coral, and crystal. Fergus's eyes winked with amusement as he didn't slow down and simply swam right into it, only to disappear into the rock.

It made Devin look completely bewildered, and Alex only grinned as well, gesturing for them to follow and simply following Fergus into the rock. Once inside, they could see it was a large tunnel made of dark purple crystal.

"Only Ferjikian's and their guests can get through the magic of the wall," Fergus explained, his voice echoing back at them. "Anyone else who tried to get through would actually run into a wall."

Hatta grinned. "Sounds like Cloud Castle. Only Zions can get in. It's a temple of sorts where the lesser of our two deities live," she explained.

All three looked back at her with surprised eyes. "You can visit your deities?" Fergus questioned, still moving forward. "That's quite amazing. Once a year, our deities used to visit us =for the Festival of the Gods. However, once the Hearts took over, it became too dangerous to gather so many people in one place. The Caterpillar, however, was known to visit Reliquum from time to time."

Alex shrugged as he followed along. "I've seen him, uhhhh, twice? When I came to visit him, it was this dark, cloudy grey kind of room. Not an actual place at all."

Once Alex finished his sentence, the end of the tunnel opened up, and into view came the Ferjikian Crystal City. The buildings almost looked like a spire-y, crystal New York. The crystal ranged in every color of the rainbow, and in the distance was one huge spire, around the size of the Empire State Building in New York.

Everywhere there were Ferjikian mermen and women, very few of them alone, and several 'walking' their pet fish or other strange Wonderland marine life. "Welcome to the Crystal City," Fergus said, bowing to the three and gesturing.

Hatta was too excited by the Crystal City to talk more about Cloud Castle or its inhabitants.

"Whoaaaaa. It's so rainbow-y" she was awed.

Fergus chuckled. "Why...thank you? Both the city and its inhabitants tend to enjoy lots of color, as it were."

He gestured for them to follow, and as they got closer to the city, its people paused to bow and wave to them energetically, a few even approaching the group. "Afternoon, Your Majesties! Welcome, King Alexander and Devin!" they shouted.

A few of the people looked curiously at Hatta, her being the only one they did not recognize. One particular came up to the group and did a pretty curtsy bow combination. "My King's...my Lady," she murmured in greeting. This Ferjikian woman had hair in several shades of purple and a lavender colored tail. Judging by the amount of expensive stones she had on, she was also a noblewoman.

Alex and Devin smiled and nodded to her, while the King grinned and put an arm around her shoulders. "This is my niece, Lady Claret."

She girl smiled, her eyes sneaking over to Hatta once more before shyly looking away.

Hatta bowed and took her hand, giving it a little kiss. "It's lovely to meet you," she said, and winked at Lady Claret.

The purple haired girl turned bright red and refused to make eye contact, smiling at Hatta. "Y-you as well Lady...?"

"Hatta," Fergus supplied, smiling knowingly. "She's visiting from another Wonderland, and so I was giving her a tour of the city. Lady Claret is our Musical Advisor for the court and is also a professor at the University here."

Hatta grinned at her. "Smart and musically talented, someone would very lucky to have you. Unless you're in a relationship, of course..." Oh yes, Hatta was full flirt right now.

Lady Claret was cute as hell, half fish or not. Hatta quite likey.

Claret tittered adorably, covering her mouth delicately as she did so. "Music is the only thing I've ever been decent at. And as for relationships...well, I haven't had much time for them," she explained, a light pink version of her previous blush frozen in place as she finally made eye contact with Hatta, giving her the full impact of her eyes. They were purple with shards of sapphire blue.

Fergus chuckled. "Yes, she swam her way to professor in only 10 years, once she decided to do it. She is one of the youngest professors at the University, only 83 years old."

That made Alex grin. "That's quite an accomplishment," he complimented.

Hatta continued grinning and matched her gaze. "That's a shame, that someone hasn't snatched you up...but it's good news for me..." she was getting closer to Claret, enjoying the blush on the little Ferjikian's cheeks get darker and darker. She leaned in...and then her phone rang.

Hatta groaned and pulled her (protected by magic) cell phone from her hat. She checked the caller ID and groaned.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this. It's my brother. Probably has to do with the twins," she said, and swam a little distance off, winking at Claret as she went.

They could only hear Hatta mutter something along the lines of "You are _such_ a fucking cock block, you know that?" before she was out of hearing range.

Claret blinked surprised at the place where Hatta had been, covering her mouth and trying to hide her slight embarrassment by looking away a moment later. "O-oh my...she's very...uh..." the girl murmured, at a loss for words.

Alex chuckled. "Yes, she is."

"What was she talking about, twins?" Fergus questioned, tilting his head. "I did not know she had children."

The Caterpillar chuckled and shrugged. "In her Wonderland the Tweedles are...eight, I think. She's been raising them herself, so I suppose she left them to her brother when she came here."

"Oh, that is very noble of her," Claret said quietly, still blushing slightly.

They talked idly for a few moments, before Fergus heard soft singing coming from the direction Hatta swam.

Their curiosity taking the better of them, they went and peeked around the large boulder Hatta was behind.

The singing was coming from her. It sounded like a lullaby, but in a different language.  
She sang for a few minutes before stopping and she said, "Goodnight Dee, goodnight Dum. Sleep tight. I love you."

She turned the call off and tuned to see she had company. Silence...  
"Yo, how's it I've been here for over twelve hours and its still, like, midday?" she asked.

The company cleared their throats and tried to look orderly.

"Ahem. Wonderland's gods sometimes extend the hours of the night and day as they see fit. Knowing you were here to see Wonderland, they have most likely extended the daylight hours so that you may fully experience all that it is you want to while here," Fergus explained.

Alex nodded in agreement. "Indeed. It happened a lot my first few months here, though now it seems there are more evening hours than daylight lately. I think Reliquum likes you," he said, laughing some.

Hatta made a goofy face. "Ohhh, okaaay~ So back to the tour of the city, shall we?" she said with her best smile.

She turned to Lady Claret. "Will you be joining us?"

The Lady blushed slightly and tried to hide her pleased smile by looking at her uncle. The man chuckled and nodded. "I assume there is a reason you aren't teaching at this moment?" he inquired.

She nodded. "Today I gave my students the day to find inspiration. Tomorrow, they have the first few lines of their melody for the latest project due," she explained.

"Then, of course you should come along with us," Devin insisted.

Alex nodded as well. "And since you brought up the University, it is close, right? You could give us a tour," he prompted.

Hatta grinned and linked arms with Lady Claret.

"Yes, I'd love to see where you teach," she smiled sweetly.

Claret grinned widely and nodded. "And I would be happy to show you," she said shyly, yet enthusiastically. The group started off again, and within a few minutes of swimming, they came up to a large building, and carved into the crystal was Crystal City University. There were many different spires and floors, and the top part of the main building was domed.

"This is the main building, which has our concert halls, staff offices, and commons. It also has spare rooms that the clubs use," Claret explained to their group, seeming to which to perfect, cool teacher mode as soon as they entered the building.

As she took them through the building several students passed them by, seeming to be very busy, but all stopping to bow to their king, and once they recognized Alex and Devin, them as well. When she was explained to the group in front of one of the student lounges, a younger male student who didn't even look old enough to be there exited and bumped straight into King Fergus.

He gasped and stuttered out a, "O-oh my gods I'm sorry, sir-AH! K-king Fergus, I'm so so so sorry," he babbled, practically flailing.

The King chuckled and shook his head. "Of course, it is fine. It wasn't on purpose, correct?"

Alex reached out to grasp the scrolls the boy had dropped, glancing over them. "This is music. Is he your student Claret?"

Claret smiled and nodded. "Martin Bluetail. He's one of my best, actually."

Hatta thought Martin was cute and has straight as a capital S.

Martin looked up at Hatta and then to her and Lady Claret's linked arms.

"Miss. Claret, I didn't know you had a girlfriend!" he babbled excitedly. It sounded a lot like Claret had been single for a long time, and most of her class probably knew this.

Hatta had to contain her laughter as Claret turned three different shades of red and one shade of pink.

The purple hair woman sputtered and looked between each of the grinning faces in front of with a dismayed gaze that no one was clarifying the situation here. "I-it's-! I mean...Miss. Hatta and I just met...!" she murmured, though she didn't deny that Hatta was her girlfriend. Mostly because she didn't want Hatta to completely discard the idea.

Hatta grinned and patted Claret's head.

"No, we're not...yet," and she winked at Martin giggled and swam off with his stuff.

She nudged Lady Claret. "Show me your classroom."

Alex nodded enthusiastically, along with Devin. "Yes, please do."

The Lady looked surprised that they wanted to see where she worked, but nodded. "I work in Trephitine Hall, which is this way," she said enthusiastically, leading them out of the main building and into a courtyard with a statue of Fergus in it. They took a moment to admire this while the King himself blushed very lightly, and then went into Lady Claret's building.

"On the left," she guided, and they were then inside an octagonal room. They were on the top level of seats, and it went down in layers until it got to the floor where a podium was.

Hatta smiled. "It's cute~ Kinda like you~" she chimed.

Claret turned red and sputtered. "O-oh...th-thank you," she tittered quietly.

Alex chuckled. "You're such a flirt, Hatta."

Hatta put a finger to Alex's lips. "Shhh, I've lived long enough to have the right to be whatever I please, whenever I please," she stated.

She wrapped an arm around Claret's waist and brought the Ferjikian Lady closer to her side.

Claret made a little surprised noise and stared up at Hatta with huge eyes. "U-um...How long are you staying in Wonderland?" she asked shyly, twiddling her thumbs.

The three men in the room politely looked away, seeming to find the walls suddenly very interesting.

"For the rest of this day, I think. But I'm sure I'll be back often in the future," Hatta replied, smiling down at Claret. She had her hands on the Lady's waist.

Said Lady hid her pleased smile behind her hand, looking away shyly. "I-I see. Where are you all going after the University?" she questioned.

"Ah. We were going to head to the castle, and give a brief idea of the residential area. Would you like to accompany us?" Fergus said, raising an eyebrow.

She paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Mmm, I think I'm free for the day, so I'll come along if everyone is alright with that," she murmured.

"Of course," Alex said.

Hatta looked extremely excited. "Fuuuck yes." she punched the air. Or more like the water.

Claret seemed surprised that Hatta was so happy, her expression warming up even more and her shyness, which was really just uncertainty over how to handle the situation, fading some. Within a few more minutes they were inside a humongous cavern, filled with was looked like holes in the wall covered with coral, crystal, or some kind of woven cloth. It was different for every little compartment.

"This is the residential area," Fergus explained, gesturing. "Each Ferjikian has their own once they apply for it. One can apply as early as sixteen, but a job has to be registered for to earn one. As one rises in job earnings, they can also increase the size of their apartment by applying and purchasing an expansion spell."

Alex looked curiously around. "So, they just enchant it bigger? The space size never changes?" he questioned.

"That's right," Claret piped in. "I live on 85th Shelf, and since becoming a professor, I've recently been approved for an expansion. I haven't executed it yet though, would you like to come and observe?"

Hatta nodded. "Yes, that seems interesting," she said, which was in fact a cover because she really wanted to see where Claret lived.

Everyone else agreed as well, and then they were swimming their way to Claret's home, which was on one of the higher rows of doorways. Once again, anyone who saw them was extremely nice, waving and greeting them, including Claret's neighbor, who was outside playing with what appeared to be...a catfish, with the head of a cat and the body of a white fish. His door was made of blue coral, and Claret's next to it was a shining purple crystal.

"Evening, Claret!" the man said, waving and smiling softly. "Seems you have a lot of company there. Your Majesties, Lady friend," he continued, bowing to them and Hatta.

Claret smiled back, and although the man wasn't unattractive at all, she had nothing but warm friendship in her eyes. "Evening Marcus. Yes, my uncle, the kings, and Lady Hatta came to observe me getting my apartment expanded," she said conversationally, petting the catfish when it approached and rubbed against her.

He called it back over momentarily, but grinned. "So you got approved? Great! I'm guessing a new music room, so I'll be able to hear your lovely music through my wall?" he questioned.

She blushed and waved a hand. "I'll sound proof it, so no, Marcus. I wouldn't want to disturb. I will see you later, yes? Lady Hatta is on a tight schedule," she insisted, waving to Marcus as he waved back and she grasped Hatta's hand, leading her inside her house.

Hatta waved at marcus a little before being pulled inside. "A literal wcatfish. That's adorable," she commented.

"Bubbly is a great catfish. I take care of him when Marcus goes to work, since he's a palace guard," Claret said conversationally.

When they got inside, it was decorated in a surprisingly simple way, but it was lovely and tasteful. Alex seemed quite interested in the deep blue piano. "This is lovely," he commented, stroking a hand over it. The house was cluttered with various instruments, which Claret seemed to have nowhere to put.

"Thank you! Once I get this music room I'll finally have somewhere to put it," the Lady said, breaking away from Hatta reluctantly to go dig in a drawer and pull out a scroll.

Fergus clucked his tongue and shook his head. "Clare, if you told me you needed one, I could have arranged for it much sooner," he said in a slightly scolding tone.

Claret tittered and shook her head, going to a blank wall. "I wanted to do it on my own merits, plus I was fine with what I had, this is just a bonus! Now..." she said, clearing her throat. Her fingertip scanned the page and she repeated a few words in a bubbly sounding language, and then stuck the paper to the wall.

After a few seconds, the paper shimmered and disappeared, and Claret said more words. Every time she said a few, the wall change some, until finally there was no more wall and there was a considerable sized room filled with stands for her instruments built into the walls. "Perfect!" she exclaimed, smiling excitedly.

Hatta watched and smiled. "Do you want some help moving your instruments in there?" she asked.

The purple haired woman blushed and shook her head. "I wouldn't want to make you do something so menial. I can do it myself later," she insisted.

"But that's a pretty big piano," Devin said doubtfully, tapping his chin and looking at it. "At least let us help with that."

Hatta shook her head. "I can move the piano. Where do you want it?" she asked.

Claret's eyes were wide and she sputtered a bit, but realized there was no point in arguing. "U-ummm...I was going to put it in that far corner over there," she murmured, gesturing to the back left corner of the room.

Hatta went over to the piano and sized it up. "I'm going to need two of me," she muttered, and looked at the opposite side of the piano. Something started to form, and all of a sudden there was a second Hatta.

But this Hatta was different. She had a completely blank look, and her eyes were completely blank with bright red rings on them. She gave off a creepy vibe.  
She looked to the real Hatta, and the real Hatta motioned to the piano.

At the same time they both picked up their respective piano sides and carried it to where Claret wanted.

Real Hatta waited for Claret to nod her head before snapping her fingers and the not real Hatta disappeared.

The men stared at the Hatta clone, while Claret simply directed them both and then clapped adorably when the piano was placed. "Perfect, perfect! Thank you so much," she said pleasantly, still blushing a little.

"We could've helped," Devin said, smiling a little.

Alex nodded. "Mhmm. And...that clone was a little...creepy..."

As soon as the piano was placed, Hatta went back over to Claret and wrapped her arms around the Lady's waist.

"That wasn't a clone. It was my doppelganger. She's like a clone, but she's sentient and the only one I can make. Kind of her own...being. But I'm still the core energy so my doppelganger can't exist without me...so yeah," she said, snuggling up to Claret.

She actually didn't have to make her doppelganger. She could have used magic, and doppelgangers were actually viewed as powerful weapons and not menial helpers. Hatta had been sort of showing off for Claret, really.

"O-Oh, I see," the Lady said, blushing more as Hatta snuggled her. She couldn't help but relax and snuggle back after a few seconds though. Hatta's presence was magnetic, and who was Claret to resist?

Alex and Devin nodded in acknowledgement of Hatta's doppelganger, both commending her power. "I wonder if I could clone myself...?" Ales murmured to himself, only to be cut off by a chuckling Fergus.

"We need to get moving. Clare, my lovely niece..." he began, raising an eyebrow at her and Hatta. "I actually have some business with King Alex here. You could show Hatta around Crystal Castle, correct?"

Her eyes widened. "I suppose I could...but, Uncle-"

"Wonderful! We shall meet in the throne room! Follow me, Majesties," Fergus said, cutting her off and taking Alex and Devin with him, leaving Claret alone with Hatta.

The door shut behind them with a tone of finality.

"Fff, he's worse than I am. We don't have to see the castle if you don't want to. We can do anything you want," Hatta said after a moment, twirling her fingers in Claret's obscenely long hair.

Claret remained a lovely shade of dark pink, unable to look Hatta in the eye. She had no idea what to do in these kinds of situations, since she had been avoiding dating and flirting all her life. "A-ah...well...I don't have anything particular...I wish to do..." she sputtered. "You came here to see everything correct? We shall do what you want."

"The castle!" Hatta replied like a giddy child.

"A-alright," Claret said quietly, and took Hatta's hand, giving her a shy smile before leading her out of the apartment and into the city on the way to the castle.

Hatta looked around in wonder. "It's so pretty," she muttered.

Claret looked back at Hatta's face and smiled. "Yes, it is. I suppose I don't notice it much anymore, since I'm around it all the time, but it really is something special," she murmured.

They arrived at the castle not long after, and it looked like a larger, but colorful version of Caterpillar Castle. She took Hatta in the main building, and went into tour guide mode once more, seeming to know everything about the place despite the fact she had never lived there. Fergus had practically raised her though, and she even mentioned that to Hatta at one point.

After showing Hatta the ballrooms and getting stuck in a few rooms as the musicians of the castle stopped her for advice or to talk, they finally made it to the throne room, and Claret seemed to have gotten much closer to Hatta. She was completely relaxed around her now as she pushed open the doors to the throne room.

"And this is my Uncle's throne room," she finished.

Alex, Devin, and Fergus turned to look at them as they came in, and Fergus had a satisfied gleam in his eye. "We were just about to go looking for you. Did you enjoy the tour, Ms. Hatta?"

Hatta nodded excitedly. "Yes, it's very lovely~" she said.

Her arms had never left Claret's waist during the entire tour, and Clarets hands had found themselves touching Hatta on more than one occasion.

"Glad to hear it," he said pleasantly. "And you are very welcome to come back any time."

Alex smiled and looked between Fergus and the duo of Claret and Hatta, then sighed heavily. "And unfortunately Hatta, the sun is starting to set, so the day is almost over," the noirette said sadly.

Claret seemed to realize what that meant and her hand tightened slightly on Hatta. "O-oh...you have to go soon? When will I see you again?" she murmured, eyes huge.

Hatta shrugged. "I don't know, honestly. It may be a while. But maybe..._you_ could visit me...?" Hatta murmured back.

The kings were respectively ignoring them.

The Lady bit her lip delicately, and she blushed a little. "I-I...you live on land...and in a completely different Wonderland...I don't see how I would..."

Alex interrupted them with a small laugh. "We can work that out, Claret. If I can give us tails I can give you legs, and it's a simple matter to open up another rabbit hole for you to get through," he insisted.

"Trufax, bro. But for now you must escort me back to the surface, my lady~" Hatta said.

Claret smiled and nodded to her, and soon all five of them were swimming back up to the surface. The trip seemed far too quick to her and she was reluctant to part from the very interesting and attractive Hatta. She could now very easily realize she had a huge crush on the older woman.

When all three were out of the water, and it was just Claret and her uncle in the lake, she couldn't help but look a little upset. It was just hard for her to believe she would actually get to see Hatta again.

"Thank you for coming to see us," Fergus said pleasantly.

Hatta nodded at Fergus. Oh yeah, she'd be back.

Fergus then swam over to Alex and Devin to speak to them about something most likely political in nature, leaving Hatta and Claret alone.

Hatta knelt down on the bank and looked at Claret. "So I had fun," she said.

Claret was blushing as she nodded. "Yeah...I'm sad to see you go. It'd have been nice for us to spend more time together. Maybe we could have composed something together. Or maybe do something else," she babbled. She was terrible at goodbyes, especially when they involved saying goodbye to attractive redheads who made her thoughts go all funny and head in a very, _very_ naughty direction.

During the entirety of her babbling, Hatta was simply looking at her. Then all of a sudden she swooped down and planted her lips firmly on Claret's. The Ferjikian woman was caught by surprise, but quickly kissed back.  
Hatta dragged her slightly out of the water to pull her up against her chest and cradle her in her arms.

She tangled her hand in Claret's immense amount of hair while Claret wrapped her arms around Hatta's neck.

When Hatta finally pulled away, Claret's purple lipstick and Hatta's own bright red had mixed until both women were wearing the same shade of dark purple.

While Hatta was grinning from ear to ear, Claret was blushing quite darkly. "O-oh my," she murmured. Hatta gently set her back into the water and pushed stray strands of hair out of the musician's face. "So, I'll have to stop by again sometime soon, won't I?" she asked. Claret could only nod.

Soon Alex transported her and Devin back to the exit portal where they said their farewells. March was there with the herb book, as well. But he didn't stay long. Hatta picked Alex and Devin up at the same time and gave them a massive hug.

"You guys are so wonderful. I'm definitely coming back, and if you'd ever like a tour of the South, just call ahead and I'll make sure I'm your tour guide," she said.

They agreed to do so and soon Hatta was back in her Wonderland.

She immediately went to March's house and knocked on the door.

March answered. He was apparently having another insomniac night. She handed him the box wordlessly and left.

When March went to look for Jay, he wasn't in bed, nor anywhere else in the upper floors of the house. Eventually, he was found in the basement, where it seemed he had fallen asleep at a very simply, but elegantly carved desk he had obviously began to carve that day. One half had interesting, flowing patterns carved on it, while the other was plain and blocky.

He had most likely just passed out while working, from the fact there was still a carving knife in his hand.

The dragon looked noticeably different in his sleep. Jay wasn't frowning; there was no angry expression, only a relaxed one that actually suited him very well. This was a vulnerable side of him that no one had seen before.

Marc approached quietly and gently set the box of Jay's stuff on a clear area of the work bench. He had to wake Jay up; the dragon couldn't sleep here tonight.

He removed the knife before waking him so he wouldn't get slash at. March then gently prodded Jay's shoulder. "Yo, wake up."

The green haired Zion barely dodged as he did indeed get slashed at, only with what Jay apparently thought were claws. The claws themselves hadn't made an appearance though, and as the half asleep dragon raised his other hand to slash again, he only managed to stop them centimeters from march's face.

When he seemed to wake up completely, he lowered the hand and gave March a cold glare, smirking. "You should watch it when you wake sleeping animals. You're fucking lucky I didn't rip you're damn face off," he stated, rolling his shoulders and looking around.

"Guess I fucking fell asleep. What are you doing here anyway?" the dragon questioned.

March pushed the box over to Jay. "You're stuff," was his only explanation.

Jay looked at the box blankly. "Really? I don't fucking see how you could fit all my shitin that little assed box," he said doubtfully, opening it up to see the miniature versions of everything that was in his room.

Jay looked at the box blankly. "Really? I don't fucking see how you could fit all my shit in that little assed box," he said doubtfully, opening it up to see the miniature versions of everything that was in his room.

He tilted his head curiously and continued to stare, then shrugged. "I'll go through the shit tomorrow."

"Ok. I'll unshrink this for you later. But we could set up your bed if you want to sleep on it tonight," he said.

The dragon raised an eyebrow, smirking and looking around. "There's nowhere in your fucking house big enough for my bed. We wouldn't be able to move around in the room at all...after all, it's dragon-sized," he said in an amused tone. Then again, it might be worth it to sleep in his own bed again. If there was one thing he had put his blood, sweat, and tears into over the years, it was that bed.

March looked around. "What about down here? I don't do anything with this basement, and it's big. Why don't you take it as your room?" he said.

It would be nice. There were stairs going up, and the only window was the double glass doors that went right outside. Jay would have privacy and space.

The walls and floor were concrete, which could handle Jay's roughness, and they were easy to decorate. Maybe hang some large pieces of fabric, or something else.

Considering March's suggestion, Jay looked around, his black eyes scanning the room and trying to picture his things put up around the place. It reminded him a lot of his space before Teraclse had given him control over how to design it, and he deemed it sufficient as a space with that thought in mind.

"Alright," he consented, going and looking around in the box for the miniature of his bed.

When he found it, he handed it to March, eager to watch him undo the shrinkage and place the bed.

March took it to what he deemed a sufficient corner of the room. He threw the tiny bed in the air and let his magic unshrink it and place it in its corner.

"Tadaaaa," he said jokingly.

While March was joking about it, Jay actually found it quite interesting. While he had magic and was around people who used it regularly, it had never occurred to him to use it to shrink things for portability. Probably because his mind had been focused on other things.

He stepped forward and ran his hand over the dark, carved wood of his bed. The frame and structure was very gothic and unusual looking, and within the weaving patterns of it, dragons could be seen. It was also round, rather than the usual rectangle shape, and a good twenty five feet in circumference. The familiar feel of the lacquered wood under his fingertips brought back memories and feelings alike.

When his eyes opened, they went to March. "This is some of my best work. What do you think?" Once again, no curse words, and a genuine air of curiosity when talking about the wood he had carved.

March smiled "It's lovely, and unusual. I like it."

Jay nodded, expression thoughtful for a moment as he looked back at his bed. Then it melted away, and his usual harsh, arrogant expression took its place. "Then I'll give you permission to fucking sleep here if you like," he purred, as if he was doing March a real favor.

"Eh, well, I mean I have my own bed-" too late, Jay had shoved him onto the bed and was stripping him of his clothes.

The larger man's chuckle said March hadn't really had a choice in the matter in the first place. "One doesn't refuse such a gracious offer from the Jabberwocky," he rumbled in March's ear.

March rolled his eyes. "In my house I can refuse any offer I want," he chided, sticking out his tongue.

The dragon's strong white teeth shone as he grinned, eyes reflecting dangerously. "That's what you think."

"Well, let's see, I'm not really in the mood for sex, and you're not so subtly offering it. Since this is my house I'm going to," March gasped theatrically," refuse it!" and he got up and headed for the stairs.

Jay turned around lightening fast, an angry snarl on his lips that March was actually refusing him. His moods could change that fast, especially when he didn't get something he wanted. However, he was actually tired, seeing as he had fallen asleep at his work desk.

With an angry frown in the direction of the stairs, he stripped and settled down into the comfort of his bed.


	4. I Don't Hate You

Almost a week later, Jay wasn't so sure of his thoughts his first night back in his bed. March wasn't acting like he had been, and it was really starting to piss off his oh-so-sensitive temper. He didn't know what was going through the lime-haired Zion's head, though he wasn't as stupid as he seemed.

Being as old as he was, he had learned some powers of observation, especially when left alone with nothing to kill or do. There was a reason for March's distance, and he had to guess it had something to do with himself. No one could stand to be close to him for long periods of time, due to his attitude and instincts. In fact, March was the first outside of the Wonderland Nobles.

But now March was distancing himself, and Jay was getting frustrated in both a sexual and violent way. He just wanted to kill something every time he stepped out of his basement room. Knowing that he would get electrocuted if he did, he tried to stay down there, carving. Without his permission, he had ended up beginning to carve a life-sized version of March to go with his life-sized renditions of Teraclese and Alex.

However, that day, he suddenly just lost it and pushed off of his work stool where he had been working on carving March's iris. With an anger filled huff, he tossed it against the wall with enough effort to shatter it and crack the concrete.

Of course the sound brought March running. He took one look at the cracked concrete and sighed.

"What the actual fuck, Jay? You know what, I don't care. But if you beat up on my house anymore I'm going to start making you do chores," he grumbled.

Jay didn't really notice what the Zion was saying; he was too busy noticing the dark bags under his eyes, all the more prominent because of his pale skin. His cheekbones were noticeable, and his fingers were bony.

He closed the distance between them in a millisecond, grabbing March's wrist in an unbreakable grip as he closely inspected him. He didn't realize how hard his grip was due to his built up violent frustration, but he was too busy looking at March to pay attention.

"I think I should be saying what the fuck. What the hell is wrong with you? You've left me fucking alone for fucking days, and then you come down here looking like shit! Why do you look like this, dammit?" he growled, sniffing March all over, as if looking for a scent from someone he had been around.

March rolled his eyes. "I thought you wanted space or something. I've lost so weight is all, stop sniffing me you creep!"He jerked his wrists out of Jay's grip and backed away. They ached, and he could feel the bruises forming. He dropped his arms so his sleeves would cover them.

"Anyway, since I'm down here, dinner's done. Unless you've been eating when I'm not cooking, then you haven't had a meal in three days. So come on up," he said, and walked back upstairs.

Jay blinked after him. Creep? It seemed March had forgotten he was actually animal...or maybe he was all the more aware of it and that was the problem.

And what was that about him not cooking for three days? Then, had March also not eaten for three days? Jericko couldn't die from starvation, Teraclese had tried it already, and he'd gone for two weeks alone without eating in the dungeons in Alex's castle, but could March really be okay not eating for three days?

Then it hit him. Why did he even care? March was nothing but a fuck buddy, and in effect, his jailer. Why should he care what happened to the little shit?

Grumbling because this thought was now plaguing him, he followed the Zion upstairs and sat down at the table.

March was at the oven, pulling out pieces if steak that he'd just finished cooking. He put the much larger one on a plate and a much smaller one on one of those little salad plates.

He handed Jay his and sat down to eat.

Dinner was a silent affair, and once both plates were clean, March put them in the sink and began washing them.

He expected Jay to go back downstairs, but the dragon remained. Just sitting, and staring at March's back. He had something to say, it seemed.

"...What's wrong with you?" he asked in a growly tone, repeating his question from before. He had to know. March hadn't even acted like this to him the first day he had been forced here, and it was nagging at the dragon's mind.

"Nothing's wrong. Just because I'm not constantly hanging off of you or holding your hand, does that mean something's wrong," he replied without turning around.

Jay's gaze was hooded and blank as he tried to disguise his anger. "No. But you haven't said shit to me in three days. You didn't even treat me this fucking coldly when you were stuck with me. So, the fuck's got you panties in a twist now?" he growled.

"Nothing, I'm fine, Jay," March turned and smiled at the Jabberwocky. He went and sat at the table. "Sorry if it seems I've been cold to you," he seemed genuine.

The dragon's suspicious gaze scanned the Hare up and down, trying to see if he was being truthful. And truthfully, Jay couldn't tell. March's sudden withdrawal had affected him far more than he would like to admit...and he almost thought he might actually be worried about the lime green haired man.

"..." He stared silently for a moment, and then looked away, the very faintest hint of a blush at the far edges of his cheeks. "So...what's been going on...really..." he mumbled, not making eye contact.

March shrugged. "You seemed really into your work and I didn't want to disrupt you. Speaking of; we really need to get the rest of your things unpacked."

Call him crazy, but Jericko really couldn't believe March. He felt there was something else going on, but it seemed like March didn't want to talk about it, and who was he to ask, really? At the mention of his things, he shrugged. "I fucking guess."

He didn't know how the things were going to make the Zion react either. Then again, it seemed like Hatta hadn't flinched, so maybe March would be the same.

Still humming beneath the surface, was his frustration and violence. The past month or so he had been without his bed, he also hadn't killed anyone. And like it or not, it was a habit for the Jabberwocky. He was craving it; the need to destroy was strong and just barely contained.

He and March headed downstairs and he watched as March pulled the box out from underneath his work desk, where he had kicked it, and put it on his bed. There was no room on his work desk.

"Alright, there are a few things I see I'd rather you not put on display. Such as the skulls, the chains, and those paintings. I don't really care that you have them, but this is my house and I don't want skulls on display, I don't care if you're the only one down here at all times. When you have your own house you can display whatever you please."

He pushed the box over to Jay. "Pick things out, place them on the floor where you want them, and I'll go around and unshrink them, ok?"

Jay didn't have much else that took up too much space besides those things he wasn't allowed to have. He grumbled under his breath in an angry tone something about the point of bringing the things if he couldn't use them, but proceeded to do as March told him. He took out a few chairs, the three wooden statues of Alex, Teraclese, and the Alice, his book shelf, and the wall lanterns he used to have placed on his wall.

As he placed them, March used his magic to unshrink them and put them in place. Very soon everything was resized and placed. March admired the statues. "These are lovely. Have you considered painting them?" he asked.

The dragon looked over at them, his eyes resting a little longer on Teraclese than the other two. Quickly, yet discreetly, he threw a blank over the unfinished one of March before the green haired Zion could figure out who it was. As he turned his attention back to the statues, he shrugged, and then nodded.

"Yeah," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I'm no good at it. Painting isn't my strong suit at fucking all."

March shrugged. "Just a suggestion. So who are they all, if you don't mind my asking?"

Jericko tensed, and it seemed for a minute, as he frowned deeply, that he would say that he did indeed mind. But before March could open his mouth and tell him never mind, the noirette raised a hand and pointed to the first statue, which was Teraclese.

"Teraclese Vivaldi. One of the five who summoned me and my fucking master for around five thousand years. He made this," he explained in a cold tone, gesturing to the dragon shaped armlet attached to his forearm. "And permanently sealed it on with an order. It pushes me if I disobey my master at any time...by electrocuting me. The most evil person, besides myself, to ever roam Wonderland...the Ex-King of Hearts."

His hand moved again, and pointed to Alex's statue. "Alexander Caterpillar. Wonderland's savior and current High King. But before that...he was an important soldier in the Heart Army...and my lover. The only on besides you I haven't killed," Jay said, then his voice turned bitter. "He also refused to remove the order binding this armlet to me, and trapped me in human form by doing so."

Finally, he pointed towards the smallest one, a little girl around eight years old with long hair and a cute dress with an apron. "...Alice Kingsley." He seemed to stop, as if he couldn't really find the words to explain that Alice. "She..."

For the first time, his eyes softened for real, and he crouched down to look at the wooden child's face, reaching out and stroking under one eye. "She wasn't afraid of me. Even when I told her what I was...and why I was after her."

March smiled at Jay. "Well, I understand why. You're really not so terrifying," he chided.

The dragon continued to stare at the girl's face. His expression went solemn and grim. "You wouldn't say that if you had seen me before everyone and their brother put a boot up my ass. Hell...you wouldn't even say that if you had met me before I was ordered not to kill anyone," he murmured.

"Even now..." Jay bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile, his flashed draconic and golden. "I could kill hundreds and it wouldn't make me feel any guilt...or feel better."

He wanted to destroy a town. Thousands of people burn them and watch them scream. And suddenly the desire seemed too strong to resist. Without a word he stood and distanced himself from March, though it didn't register why he cared about the Zion safety. "You need to leave," he growled.

March rolled his eyes. "Pa-lease. Don't be so melodramatic," he said. Jay was always muttering to himself and being extremely angst, and March was completly done with it.

"Just fucking GO!" Jay roared, an actual draconic roar finishing the sentence, the muscles in his neck straining and his eyes yellow with draconic slits.

March's words made him angry, and that was even worse, because thanks to that angsty mentality, the more he got worked up the less likely he was to think rationally. Rend. Tear. Devour. Burn.

March sighed. He was really hoping he wouldn't have to deal with this shit. "You gonna fight me, Jabberwocky?" he asked.

Jay's claws made their appearance, and he stalked forward, breathing heavily and staring with his animalistic eyes. "Only if you can't take my fucking advice and leave! You wanna fucking die?!" he growled, snapping his teeth together in front of March's face.

"Why the fuck would I take the advice of someone who hates me? Why the fuck should I listen to you?" March asked.

"Because I don't want to fucking kill you!" Jay shouted, slamming March into the wall in the blink of an eye. "I've never fucking given a shit who I killed, but I don't fucking want you to die! So why won't...you just...leave...dammit..." His breathe came in ragged huffs, he whole body moving with them as he stared March down, his claws digging into the cement of the wall.

March cringed but looked back up at Jay. "Oh sweet fucking Mary, just count to ten. Or a thousand. Whatever the fuck works for you. If you can make coherent sentences and thoughts then obviously you aren't that angry. Let's count to ten, shall we? 1..." he began counting.

Jay stared down at him like he was the stupidest being on the planet, and that even momentarily stopped his rage. When he just continued to stare, March continued. "2..."

The dragon huffed, closing his yes and trying to take normal breaths. "3..." he supplied, starting to calm his heart rate as he counted, his body relaxing as he focused on March and the counting. By the time he made it to 9, he was almost completely calm again.

"10." On the number, Jay let March go, and the Hare slid down the wall, in too much pain to attempt standing at the moment. As he sat there in a semi crumpled heap, he looked up at Jay. "All better?" he was a little pissed that what was supposed to be an extremely sarcastic countdown had in fact worked. But whatever, at least now his back could heal.

It had only partially worked. All that anger and desire to kill was still there, but now at least he wasn't in danger of harming March. When that thought crossed his mind, Jay was a little disgusted with himself. He shouldn't care, dammit! Growling slightly, he turned his back on the hurt March, trying his best not to care that he might have seriously injured the smaller man, even though it hurt something in his chest to think he had.

March glared at the back of Jay's head, before gently lifting himself from the ground. Only to crumple back down and start wheezing. "Shit my ribs..." God fucking dammit, he knew this pain. One of his god damn ribs had cracked. Fucking fuck!

"Fuck, fuck shit- FUCK!" he exclaimed, having attempted to get up again. The fucking Jabberwocky would be no help, so he'd have to sit there for a few minutes before attempting to get upstairs. He would _not_ call the Hatter, crumpled on Jay's floor as he was. The man would rightly assume Jay was the cause, and March really didn't fucking need that sort of problem right now.

Jay turned and looked down at March, simply looming over him in a way that would have made normal people think he was a serial killer and intended to finish March off. "...What's wrong?" he questioned hesitantly. He sounded like a confused child that didn't know breaking his toys was bad.

Then, a thought crossed his mind. Why hadn't March electrocuted him? He could do that...so why not?

"You broke at least one of my ribs, you ass wipe! Now I have to go to the hospital, and get bandaged. Fucking dammit! Do you know how much I fucking _hate_ hospitals?" March was yelling, and he did not care.

Jay was looking at him, confused. It was as if a switch had gone off in his brain. From angry man eating hate machine, to oh-shit-I-broke-something-and-this-is-all-my-fault -what-do-I-do?

March glared up at him with every bit of anger he'd built up the last few weeks. "You just going to fucking stand there, or move so I can get up?"

Still looking like he didn't know what to do, he started to step to the side, only to pause, the confused expression fading from his face. "Let...me help..." he said hesitantly. He knew some weak haling magic. Not enough to heal March's broken ribs, but enough to stop internal bleeding and ease the pain enough for him to get to the hospital.

"NO! Don't you dare fucking touch me! Don't you know when enough is enough?! You just gotta fucking push it, don't you?!" March winced. All this yelling was agonizing. He slumped further against the wall. Tears were forming in his eyes. They were from his physical hurting, but powered by his anger.

Jay's anger rose once more, sharp and hot. "No, I fucking don't know when enough is enough! Goddammit, what do you think I've done with my fucking life?! I've killed and hurt! It's what I do! Now-" he cut off with a frustrated growl, pinning March's arms down with his immense strength.

"Just let me fucking heal you," he hissed, mumbling in his ancient Wonderlandian a moment later and running a warm hand over March's ribs. The warmth seemed to seep under the Zion's skin and momentarily eased the pain.

However...once that was done the dragon's expression became shadowed and he simply stood up...and left. He went up the stairs and out of the house, purposefully using the strength in his legs to carry him far away from the house. Let March get to the hospital by himself.

-0-0-0-

March did indeed make it to the hospital.

And a few weeks later he was at home, all taped up and mostly bed ridden. Things had really gone to shit. The only food was being made by March for himself, the clothes were piling up, and the distance between him and Jay had grown colder and larger with each passing day.

And the dragon was straying farther and farther from the calm, slightly more human version of himself he had been upon arriving at March's house. He strayed farther and farther away from the house when he left, and it was only pure luck he didn't encounter a passing person.

The farther March got from him, both physically and mentally, the angrier and more lost Jay became inside. Why did it matter if he killed anyone now? Worst case scenario, he would die, but wouldn't that just end all of this unnecessary pain?

It was a dangerous mentality to have, and it was one Jay was carrying with him when he stalked his way into the house.

So he really had no idea as to why he ended up there. There being in March's room, next to the sleeping March. The green haired man was currently laying flat on his bed, only wearing soft pajama pants. His hair was undone and for once he didn't look like an angry rabbit.

Silently, Jay reached out, as if he was going to stroke March's cheek. But he hesitated a millimeter before the Hare's skin. Did he have any right to touch him, when he was the one who caused this state in the first place? Being so lacking of March's presence lately, he was beginning to realize something that should have blatantly obvious to him before.

He actually liked March. A lot. He thirsted for the Hare's presence the way a parched man thirsted for water.

March shifted in his sleep. His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Jay. "Hi..." he said softly, the voice of someone just woken.

The dragon dumbly down at him. He hadn't actually thought March would wake up, since the other had been sleeping so much lately. "Uh...Hi..." he mumbled, backing away from the bed.

March gingerly sat up, wincing a few times. "So, is there a reason you're creeping on me, or do you need something?" he asked. He was surprisingly calm. He was no longer angry at Jay, he'd gotten it out of his system. He'd like to blame it on the pain pills and claim to still be pissed at the Jabberwocky, but these were Hatter's pain pills, they did wonders on pain, with no side effects (unless taken on an empty stomach, then you got sick).

Speaking of, March slowly stood up and pulled on his bathrobe. His ribs were hurting slightly, and he needed to eat before he could take his medicine. "Come on downstairs with me. I'll make us some food," he mumbled, still groggy.

"Uhhhh..." Jay continued to stare stupidly. He was sure, with the way things had been going lately, March would tell him to get out or go away. But here he was inviting him to eat? How long had it been since he had eaten anyway?

Almost two weeks if his timing was right.

Seeing March stumble a little in his groggy state, the dragon moved forward quickly to catch him, wrapping an arm around the lime green haired Zion's waist. "I'll help you down..." he said hesitantly, as if he was sure March would reject the offer.

March winced. "Be gentle with my general torso area. Everything hurts," he said, but didn't pull away from Jay. Only when they were in the kitchen did he move away. He went to the fridge, located leftovers from the spaghetti he'd made himself last night, and proceeded to go about heating and serving it.

Once they were at the table with their food, he quietly began eating, not even looking at Jay.

Unlike he usually would, and even though his mouth watered profusely, the noirette didn't immediately dig in to the food. He was watching March. Thanks to Alex, he knew the name to give the feeling twinging in his chest now.

Hurt. It hurt him that March didn't even seem to want to look at him. What was he doing wrong, exactly? Other than breaking the Zion's ribs, that is...

March looked up at him after a moment. "I can make more if you want," he said. He ate the last of his food, pulled the pill bottle out of his pocket, and proceeded to take one.

Looking down at the food still left on his plate, Jay quickly shook his head and gulped it down, the feeling of food in his stomach slightly foreign after so long without. He watched March take his pill, and then did something he had never done before, and would probably never plan to again.

He gathered the dishes and put them in the sink, in an attempt to be helpful.

"H...how are you...feeling?" he asked awkwardly.

March smiled at his little display of helpfulness. "I'm doing fine. How about you? Carve anything interesting?" he asked.

The dragon blinked. March was talking back to him... "Uhh...yeah. A few things."

He had actually completely finished the statue of March, but the angrier and more distant he got, the more he was afraid he might destroy one of his best statues to date, so he had covered it and put it in a corner where he wouldn't think about it. He had also done a few animals, as well as finished his desk.

March nodded. "That's good. So I was thinking, you may have gotten a lot of wood, but you're going to run out eventually. So here's my thought; in exchange for you doing chores around the house, I'll pay you. It'll be your money and you can do whatever you want with it," he suggested.

This had been one of the many things he'd thought about in the past few weeks. He knew a step towards helping Jay become less angry was to teach him the value of real work that didn't involve sex or violence.

Jay's jaw clenched at the idea though. "Chores...?"

In truth, he barely even knew what they were. All he knew was that servants did them, and he sure as hell didn't know how to do them. However...he would do a lot of things for his hobby.

"Alright..." he consented in a begrudged tone, not looking like the idea pleased him in the slightest. Were it anyone else, he would have told them to fuck off.

March smiled and continued speaking, "Not big chores. I won't ask you to deep clean the house, because that'd be silly and I'm sure you'd be shit at it. So how about this; once a week you take out all the trash in the house, this includes all the little trash cans in the bedrooms and bathrooms. Twice a week you'll wash dishes, and once a week you'll sweep the kitchen. I'll pay you thirty bucks a week for this. That should be plenty to fund you're hobby and have extra cash to buy whatever else you want if you spend your money wisely. Deal?"

The dragon looked thoughtful for a good thirty seconds, then nodded slowly. He supposed he could do that. Of course, he would need to be taught how to sweep and do dishes, though it didn't seem too hard.

March nodded his head and smiled. "Good. Since its only noon, why don't we start now? You can wash those dishes right there."

Th noirette turned and looked blankly at the dishes in the sink. "...Right..." he said in a tone just as unreadable as his expression.

Turning the sink, he began to run water over them, and of course noticed that the food didn't come off with just water. So he squirted soap on them and then ran more water over it.

March held back his laughter and went over to help. "This is how you do this..." and he took Jay's hands in his own and together they washed a plate. He explained the purpose of the sponge and how you have to use hot water, not cold. Once the plate was done, they did a cup, and then a fork. He then let go and let Jay do it on his own, watching closely.

Jay's expression was surprisingly concentrated, the look saying that he wouldn't let mere dishes get the better of him. True, he hadn't known how to do it, but now that he did it wasn't that hard. He did the next plate, cup and fork by himself, nearly flawlessly, then set them down with a triumphant expression.

March gave him a high-five, (after he taught him how), and smiled. "Good job, you've successfully done your first chore. Tomorrow I'll teach you how to take out the trash," he said.

Though he was pleased by his accomplishment, Jay still couldn't help the nagging at the back of his mind. March was being too nice to him after weeks of ignoring and coldness, and it was a little concerning.

He hated to rain on the good mood, but... "Why aren't you still mad?"

March shrugged. "Pain is good at clearing the head. I realized it's not so much that you can't control your anger, it's that you don't know how. I doubt anyone's ever taught you. So I'm going to teach you. Maybe one day your anger won't rule you. Maybe one day you won't feel so much...hate," he replied.

He stood in front of Jay and gently brushed the black strands out of the way. "Also, I figured you didn't really know how to not be melodramatic. I understand you've been shat all over in the past and life hasn't been all that fair, but at the same time you were being abused, you abused others. You've created a vicious circle and you've lived with it for a very long time. I want to help you break that circle, but I can't do that if you don't let yourself move on."

Jay's black eyes were wide in shock. March's touch was so gentle it caused a pang in his non-existent heart. Before March could drop that hand, and with it take away the lovely feeling in his chest, Jay reached up and grabbed it, pressing the other's palm to his cheek. It was the first time March had laid a hand on him since their fight.

"I don't know how fucking long it'll take me. I really don't. I've lived a damn long time, but I haven't learned how to do anything useful. I don't know how to be normal," he admitted, and it was true. He couldn't imagine not wanting to kill something every minute of the day.

Unexpectedly, though, he also felt the need to add to what he had already said. "I do know, though...that I don't hate you. At all."

March's eyes got wide for a split second, before a radiant smile found its way to his lips. He pulled Jay down to his level and kissed him.

The little kiss got bigger and Jay picked him up and held him close, careful of March's chest. When they did finally stop kissing, they kept their foreheads pressed together, breathing each other's air and relishing in the contact. "I'd do you on the table right now, but I don't think I should do that to my chest," he informed Jay in a slightly joking manner.

The dragon smirked and rolled his eyes. "No, you sure as hell shouldn't."

He moved his head a little, so that his lips were just millimeters from March's ear. "As soon as you're better, I'm going to screw you so fucking hard, you're gonna have problems walking for a damn long time," he purred, his breath tickling the fur there slightly.

March shivered. "I should hope so," he replied, and licked up Jay's neck slightly in order to nip his jaw. "But for now, would you be so kind as to carry me to bed? M' tired..." he mumbled.

Jay couldn't help but smirk. "Sure thing," he said, suddenly scooping March up bridal style and carrying him down to the basement to his bed. Hey, March never said which one to take him to, did he?

March rolled his eyes and laughed. "Whatever. As long as it's comfy," he mumbled. When he was actually placed on the bed he groaned softly. "Fuuuuck yes its comfy."

Chuckling slightly, Jay slid in beside him. "And I can watch you here." "What's that supposed to mean?" March asked.

Jay shrugged. "You're a hurt person. You'll need fucking things. I can get 'em instead of you getting up," he reasoned. He had no idea how sweet he sounded. March giggled. "You're so cute in your own twisted, fucked up way," he said, and turned to snuggle into Jay. "Now shoosh your speaking hole. I need sleep."

"Right," the other said blankly. Cute? When was he ever cute?

With that they fell asleep.

Three weeks later an entire day was put aside and Jay and March had some of the best, hottest sex either had had in a long time.


End file.
